On Sunday, September 21, India registered a convincing win by six wickets over Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2025 Super 4 clash at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Following a relatively tough outing in the field, allowing Pakistan to get to 171-run total, Indian batters made light work of the target with Abhishek Sharma scoring a blistering fifty in double quick time, living up to the billing of a power-paced opening batter.
After winning the toss, Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav decided to bowl first and Pakistan openers Sahibzada Farhan and Fakhar Zaman provided their team a rare fast start. Upon hitting three boundaries in the early phase of his innings, Fakhar Zaman was dismissed in a contentious manner when the third umpire declared
that Sanju Samson took a clean catch diving in front of him on the bowling of Hardik Pandya.
Sahibzada Farhan got three reprieves from the Indian fielders, which allowed him to get past his fifty in 34 balls, stitching together a key partnership of 72 runs for the second wicket with Saim Ayub, who scored 21 off 17 before losing his wicket to Shivam Dube. The dismissal of Sahibzada Farhan for 58 off 45 with five fours and three sixes led to the Pakistan innings stagnating quite a bit as the Indian bowlers didn’t allow the middle order batters Hussain Talat, captain Salman Agha, and Mohammad Nawaz to get away.
With that, India made a resounding comeback into the Asia Cup 2025 Super 4 clash, but the unbeaten cameo of 20 runs in just 8 balls from Faheem Ashraf allowed Pakistan to post 171/5 on the board in their allotted 20 overs. For India, Shivam Dube was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 2/33 in his four-over spell, while Jasprit Bumrah had an off day, going for 45 runs in his quota of overs without a wicket.
In the pursuit of the 172-run target, Indian openers Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill got off to a flyer, scoring 69 runs in the powerplay overs, and during their partnership, they had a few choice words for the likes of Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf. Abhishek Sharma got to his fifty in just 24 balls before the opening partnership went past the 100 runs alongside Shubman Gill, who lost his wicket to Faheem Ashraf after scoring 47 off 28 with eight fours.
Just after the first wicket stand of 105 runs was broken, Pakistan fast bowler Haris Rauf got the key wicket of Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav, who didn’t trouble the scorers in the 11th over of the innings. Abhishek Sharma kept his attacking intent going, but just a couple of overs later, he lost his wicket to Abrar Ahmed, but not before causing a lot of damage to Pakistan hopes with his 74 off 39, an innings which had six fours and five sixes.
Tilak Varma and Sanju Samson struggled in the middle for timing on their shots, adding just 25 runs for the fourth wicket in 26 balls before the latter was cleaned up by Haris Rauf for 13 off 17, to keep Pakistan in it with India needing 24 more runs to win in 20 balls. With the arrival of Hardik Pandya at the crease, Tilak Varma found his mojo back, hitting two crisp sixes before they took India over the finishing line while scoring unbeaten 30 off 19.
