DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Pakistan collapsed from 113-1 to 146 all out against archrival India in the final of cricket's Asia Cup on Sunday.
Put into bat for the Twenty20 game at Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Pakistan fumbled a great start and lost its last nine wickets for 33 runs in 39 deliveries.
Sahibzada Farhan (57 runs in 38 balls) and Fakhar Zaman (46 in 35) had given Pakistan a solid start at 84-0 but No. 3 Saim Ayub (14) was the only other Pakistan batter to reach double figures.
Farhan hit five fours and three sixes.
Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav took 4-30 in four overs. Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy and Axar Patel claimed two wickets each.
Bumrah claimed the last wicket as Pakistan's innings ended in 19.1 overs.
Pakistan had enjoyed the powerplay – scoring 45 without loss — and was 87-1 at the halfway point.
Farhan reached his 50 off 35 balls – his second of the tournament and also against India. Chakravarthy got the breakthrough as Farhan was caught in the deep in the 10th over. Even so, Pakistan was past 100 in 11.2 overs and looked set for a good score.
Yadav started the fightback in his second spell of two overs – sending back Ayub in the 13th over.
Yadav took three wickets in the 17th over, breaking the back of Pakistan’s innings. He dismissed Salman Agha (8), Shaheen Afridi (0) and Faheem Ashraf (0) as the lower-middle order wilted under pressure. The turning point had come when Zaman was out caught in the 15th over against Chakravarthy .
It is the first India-Pakistan final in Asia Cup history, which started in 1984. The two sides have already met twice earlier in this tournament – in group play and Super Four. India won both games comfortably.
The Asia Cup has marked a resumption of cricket ties between India and Pakistan only months after the neighboring countries were engaged in a tense border situation in May that disrupted the IPL and the Pakistan Super League.
India's cricketers refused to shake hands with Pakistan after their first and second games at the Asia Cup.
There were no handshakes at Sunday's toss where India skipper Suryakumar Yadav spoke with former India cricketer-turned-broadcaster Ravi Shastri and Pakistan captain Agha talked with former Pakistan cricketer-turned-broadcaster Waqar Younis.
Pakistan named an unchanged team for the match while India all-rounder Hardik Pandya missed out owing to a niggle, replaced by Rinku Singh. Bumrah and Shivam Dube returned for India with Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana out.
___
AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket
