DUBAI: Spinners led by Kuldeep Yadav helped India beat Pakistan by seven wickets in the Asia Cup on Sunday as the neighbours met on the cricket pitch for the first time since a military conflict between them in May.
Kuldeep returned figures of 3-18 and along with fellow spinner Axar Patel kept Pakistan down to 127-9 in a key Group ‘A’ T20 clash in Dubai.
India lost two wickets after a fiery 31 off 13 balls from opener Abhishek Sharma, but skipper Suryakumar Yadav hit an unbeaten 47 to achieve the target with 25 balls to spare.
Suryakumar, who turned 35 on Sunday, put on 56 runs with left-hander Tilak Varma, who hit 31 before being bowled by Saim Ayub.
The captain stood firm and hit the winning six as Indian fans celebrated at a stadium, which had a lot of empty seats, and the players from both teams went off without handshakes.
India resisted calls to boycott the match between the nations, who have not played in any bilateral series since deadly attacks in Mumbai in 2008 were blamed on Pakistan militants.
The hostilities in May this year left more than 70 people dead in missile, drone and artillery exchanges, before a ceasefire.
The conflict was triggered by an April 22 attack on civilians in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir that New Delhi accused Pakistan of backing — a charge Islamabad denies.
Suryakumar, in the presentation, said India took the match against Pakistan as “just another game” and dedicated the win to the Indian army.
“We stand with the victims of the families of the Pahalgam terror attack and we express our solidarity,” Suryakumar said. “We want to dedicate today’s win to the armed forces.”
After hitting the winning shot, Suryakumar and his team-mates refused to shake hands with their Pakistan counterparts. The captain said in the post-match press conference that the move was in alignment “with the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) and the government”.
Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha did not show up in the post-match ceremony as a reaction to the Indian team’s move.
“It was a follow-on effect of the fact that we were obviously keen to engage and shake hands at the end of the match, but that obviously didn’t happen,” Pakistan coach Mike Hesson said later.
SHAHEEN’S CAMEO IN VAIN
Abhishek came out roaring as he hit Pakistan pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi for a four and a six and, despite the fall of Shubman Gill in the next over, kept up the charge.
Swashbuckling Abhishek cracked four boundaries and two sixes before he mistimed another attempt for a maximum to be caught at long-off off spinner Saim.
India’s bowlers set up the dominant win as Axar, who took 2-18, and Kuldeep combined to rattle the opposition batting, which suffered from a lack of partnerships.
Hardik Pandya struck in the first over to dismiss opener Saim for a golden duck and fellow quick Jasprit Bumrah sent back wicket-keeper-batsman Mohammad Haris for three.
Sahibzada Farhan, who top-scored with 40, attempted to rebuild the innings along with Fakhar Zaman, who made 17, in a partnership of 39.
Axar broke the stand with his left-arm spin as he got Fakhar caught out and in his next over had skipper Salman out for three.
Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep came into the attack and struck twice on successive balls to pack off Hasan Nawaz (5) and Mohammad Nawaz (0) as Pakistan slipped to 64-6 inside 13 overs.
Kuldeep was named player of the match for the second successive time after he starred in India’s opening win over hosts United Arab Emirates.
Wickets kept tumbling, but number nine Afridi took on the opposition attack with four sixes in his unbeaten 33 off 16 balls to push the total past 120 and play out Pakistan’s full 20 overs.
India, with two wins from two, are nearly through to the next Super Fours stage of the tournament with their final group match against Oman on Friday.
Pakistan play UAE next on Wednesday and despite the defeat to India are expected to make the next stage.
SCOREBOARD
PAKISTAN:
Saim Ayub c Bumrah b Pandya 0
Sahibzada Farhan c Pandya b Yadav 40
Mohammad Haris c Pandya b Bumrah 3
Fakhar Zaman c Varma b Patel 17
Salman Ali Agha c Sharma b Patel 3
Hassan Nawaz c Patel b Kuldeep 5
Mohammad Nawaz lbw b Kuldeep 0
Faheem Ashraf lbw b Chakaravarthy 11
Shaheen Shah Afridi not out 33
Sufiyan Muqeem b Bumrah 10
EXTRAS (NB-1, W-4) 5
TOTAL (for nine wicket, 20 overs) 127
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-1 (Saim), 2-6 (Haris), 3-45 (Fakhar), 4-49 (Salman), 5-64 (Hasan Nawaz), 6-64 (Mohammad Nawaz), 7-83 (Sahibzada), 8-97 (Faheem), 9-111 (Sufiyan)
DID NOT BAT: Abrar Ahmed
BOWLING: Pandya 3-0-34-1 (2w), Bumrah 4-0-28-2 (1nb), Chakaravarthy 4-0-24-1, Kuldeep 4-0-18-3, Patel 4-0-18-2, Sharma 1-0-5-0
INDIA:
A. Sharma c Faheem b Saim 31
S. Gill st Haris b Saim 10
S. Yadav not out 47
T. Varma b Saim 31
S. Dube not out 10
EXTRAS (LB-1, W-1) 2
TOTAL (for three wickets, 15.5 overs) 131
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-22 (Gill), 2-41 (Sharma), 3-97 (Varma)
DID NOT BAT: S. Samson, H. Pandya, A. Patel, K. Yadav, J. Bumrah, V. Chakhravarthy
BOWLING: Shaheen 2-0-23-0, Saim 4-0-35-3 (1w), Abrar 4-0-16-0, M. Nawaz 3-0-27-0, Sufiyan 2.5-0-29-0
RESULT: India won by seven wickets.
Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2025
