Amidst plenty of anticipation, India and Pakistan locked horns with each other in the fifth match of the ongoing Asia Cup at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Wednesday (September 19).

Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed won the toss and elected to bat first. Bhuvneshwar Kumar gave India the upper hand early in the game by dismissing both Pakistan openers Fakhar Zaman (0) and Imam-ul-Haq (2) leaving Pak 3/2.

Shoaib Malik along with Babar Azam steadied the ship by taking singles and doubles with occasional boundaries. Slowly, both the batsmen picked up the pace and started to counter-attack. Malik and Babar forged a 82-run partnership before Kuldeep Yadav removed the latter with a beauty.

After Babar’s departure on 47, Pakistan were bamboozled by the part-time off-spinner Kedar Jadhav. He got rid of Sarfraz (6), Asif Ali (9) and Shadab Khan (8) in quick succession to put Pakistan on the backfoot. Malik’s run out on 43, courtesy a brilliant piece of fielding from Ambati Rayudu, was a cherry on the cake for India. Afterwards, Bumrah (2/23) and Bhuvneshwar (3/15) ripped through the lower order to bundle out Pakistan for 162 in 43.1 overs.

Chasing the paltry target, India got off to a flier with skipper Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan adding 86 runs for the opening wicket in just 13 overs. In particular, Rohit was in full flow as he tore apart the Pakistani pace attack to notch up his 35th ODI half-century.

Leg-spinner Shadab Khan removed Sharma for 52 (6 fours and 3 sixes) but by then India were in a commanding position. Ambati Rayudu came out to bat at the crucial No. 3 position and forged a 28-run stand with Dhawan before the latter fell just four runs short of his half-century.

Subsequently, the pair of Rayudu (31*) and Dinesh Karthik (31*) stitched an unbeaten 60-run partnership to bring India home with 8 wickets in hand and 126 balls to spare.  

Twitter experts were impressed to see the way Rohit and company made the mockery of Pakistan’s substandard total.

Here are some of the tweets lauding India’s clinical show: