New Delhi: Saim Ayub was the pick of the Pakistan bowlers as he took three wickets even as Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma steadied the innings for India after they lost the wickets of Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma early during their 128-run chase against Pakistan in their Group A tie of the Asia Cup in Dubai on Sunday.
Ayub got the crucial breakthrough of Shubman Gill who scored just 10 runs. Later, a quick-fire innings of 31 runs off 13 deliveries got over as Abhishek Sharma was caught by Ashraf.
Earlier, Kuldeep Yadav (3/18) and Axar Patel (2/18) helped India restrict Pakistan for a paltry 127 for 9 in their Group A tie of the Asia Cup here.
India began with Hardik Pandya dismissing Saim Ayub on the first legitimate delivery of the game and Jasprit Bumrah dismissing Mohammad Haris next to leave Pakistan tottering at 6 for 2.
Spinners Kuldeep (4-0-18-3) and Patel (4-0-18-2) then stifled Pakistan middle order with regular strikes and tight bowling lines.
Sahibzada Farhan scored a valiant 40 (44 balls, 1x4s, 3x6s) but the rest of the Pakistani batters cut a sorry figure on a docile track here.
Shaheen Afridi hit a crucial 16-ball 33 not out towards the end to take Pakistan past 100-run mark.
Earlier, Pakistan captain Salman Agha won the toss and elected to bat against India in their Asia Cup Group A match here on Sunday.
Both teams are coming off comprehensive wins in their opening matches and have decided to field the same playing XIs.
Teams:
India: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav©, Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson(wk), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Pakistan: Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Mohammad Haris(wk), Fakhar Zaman, Salman Agha©, Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Abrar Ahmed. (Agencies)
