Asia Cup 2018: 3 reasons why India beat Pakistan
The India-Pakistan encounter always remains an exciting one, however, today's match was more of a one-sided affair. The arch-rivals were meeting for the twelfth time in Asia Cup at Dubai International Stadium, where India dominated from the very start of the match.
Fans across both the countries though would have hoped for a close contest, but that wasn't the case as Indian bowlers ripped through the Pakistan batting line-up, ending up winning the match by 8 wickets. Anything under 200 against strong Indian team is never easy to defend for any side of the world and same happened in this match.
After a great show by bowlers, the match slipped further for Pakistan with Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan giving India a fabulous opening stand of 86 runs.
There were several reasons that made India stun Pakistan by mammoth eight wickets, here we pinnacle three of them:
#1 Wrong toss strategy
Toss plays an important role and that is known well to all, however, Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed pulled off a surprising decision by opting to bat first after winning the toss. Most of the times, teams want to bowl first against India, knowing their strong chasing ability.
Pakistan misjudged the pitch and were aiming 300 runs on a 250-run track. In this fumble, they allowed India to trouble them with early blows, making them bundle on meagre 162 runs.
#2 Early wickets by Indian bowlers
Losing wickets in first ten overs always haunt and Pakistan lost both their openers within three overs. That was when the game started slipping from their hands. After those wickets, Indian bowlers got the needed booster, which they missed in the last match against Hong Kong.
They kept bowling tight lines throughout the innings, despite there was a big partnership between Babar Azam and Shoaib Malik. Former's wicket again got the flow going in India's way as they kept taking wickets on regular intervals afterwards.
#3 Strong start by Indian openers
After a weak start against Hong Kong, Indian openers made a strong comeback against Pakistan. The duo of Rohit and Dhawan produced the 86-run stand, which helped India chase down the meagre total easily.
Rohit scored fiery 52 of 39 balls, including 6 fours and 3 sixes while on the other hand, Shikhar Dhawan made 46 of 54. The duo provided the platform for Rayudu and Karthik to finish the match in style.