Top News

Once again, handshakes weren’t exchanged at the toss as India put Pakistan to bat before notching their highest ever successful chase against them. Sahibzada Farhan set up Pakistan with an entertaining fifty but India came out firing on all cylinders with Sharma scoring 74 off 39 balls and Gill 47 off 28 balls. Suryakumar Yadav and Sanju Samson fell cheaply but Tilak Varma hammered 30 off 19 balls to help India coast to another comfortable victory with Hardik Pandya at the other end.

This was a day of mixed fortunes for India. Jasprit Bumrah was off colour after a long time. Between him and Hardik Pandya, India leaked more than 10 runs per over. Nine extras in the form of wides and no balls were conceded. More shocking though was India’s catching. Sharma dropped a dolly, Kuldeep Yadav made a mess of a sitter before Gill dropped an even easier catch in the outfield.

When it came to batting though, India were on the button. Chasing in Dubai is always the safer pick but so exhilarating was India’s opening stand that even a slowdown in the form of two wickets in the space of four balls couldn’t stall them.

Pakistan kept Sharma was the only reason this match remained so lopsided. From pulling Shaheen Afridi first ball of the innings for a six to holing out to Haris Rauf at long-on in the 13th over, Sharma knew no other way to bat but go after Pakistan every ball. Five sixes, six boundaries and a strike rate of 189.74 on a slow pitch meant India were ahead of the asking rate at every milestone of the game. Abrar Ahmed finally got Sharma but not before he was thumped over midwicket for a six before being slogswept over deep midwicket for another over boundary.

Three balls later in the seventh over, Ahmed should have got Sharma when he pulled him to long off but Farhan palmed that catch over the boundary rope for a six. By then, India had already set the tone of the chase, scoring 69 runs in the Powerplay purely through proper hitting. Complementing Sharma beautifully was Gill, hitting through the line and rotating the strike as much as possible. The hundred-run partnership up in 8.4 overs, Gill fell just on the cusp of the halfway mark but by then Pakistan had lost a lot of ground.

It won’t be lost on Pakistan that they were in a similar position at the 19-over mark after countering India with a disruptive batting approach. Skipping down the track, forcing the bowlers to shorten their lengths, Pakistan was on the offensive very early. Symbolically, it started with Fakhar Zaman going after Jasprit Bumrah. He strayed down the legs, prompting Zaman to flick him behind square for the first boundary of the innings before going down the pitch and clubbing the moving ball down the ground.

Another boundary off Hardik Pandya, this time Zaman backing away and slapping the ball through point, and Pakistan looked like finally catching some early momentum. But Pandya rolled his fingers on the ball next delivery, inducing a faint edge that died on Sanju Samson who did well enough to get the webbing of his gloves under the ball. Zaman, along with the Pakistan team in the dugout as well as some commentators felt the ball had bounced but these types of marginal calls are regularly going to the bowling sides these days.

Pakistan risked getting distracted by that dismissal but Sahibzada Farhan kept them firmly on track by making the most of the life given to him by Sharma at third man. He pulled Bumrah to the boundary before clobbering his full toss through midwicket. Bumrah returned for another double-boundary over before three maximums were unveiled against spinners — one each off Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel before Shivam Dube finally got Farhan to slice him at extra cover.

Pakistan started losing their way after that dismissal. Saim Ayub hadn’t made his start count, and neither did Hussain Talat. Which meant India had enough time to slowly come back into the match through Dube in the middle overs. Between Chakravarthy and Kuldeep too, India conceded a reasonable 56 runs in eight overs.

Mohammad Nawaz got his eye in but was run out in the silliest possible way, taking Suryakumar Yadav’s throw too casually to forget planting his bat. Pakistan still got 42 runs in the last three overs, allowing them to finish with a par score. But considering they were 91/1 at the halfway stage, the first seeds of this win was planted by India in their middle overs bowling before Gill and Sharma punched holes in Pakistan’s bowling.