Team India overcame Pakistan's challenge with expertise to rally in pursuit of defending their Asia Cup title successfully at the Dubai International Stadium on September 14, Sunday. After India's spinners choked Pakistan in the middle overs, Abhishek Sharma set the tone for the run-chase of 128, with Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav completing the job.

Team India overcame Pakistan's challenge with expertise to rally in pursuit of defending their Asia Cup title successfully at the Dubai International Stadium on September 14, Sunday. After India's spinners choked Pakistan in the middle overs, Abhishek Sharma set the tone for the run-chase of 128, with Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav completing the job.

After electing to bat first in the cauldron of an environment in Dubai, the Men in Green found themselves under pressure very early in the innings. Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah put their arch-rivals under pressure as they dismissed Saim Ayub (0) and Mohammad Haris (3) only in two overs. Fakhar Zaman and Sahibzada Farhan stitched a promising 39-run partnership before Axar Patel ended the former's stay for 17.

Pakistan struggled with the same problem throughout their innings as India pegged them back everytime they tried to get a partnership going. It was the late strikes from Shaheen Shah Afridi, who made an unbeaten 31 that carried their side to 127/9. Kuldeep Yadav was the pick of the Indian bowlers with sensational figures of 4-0-18-3.

Abhishek Sharma blasts Shaheen Shah Afridi for 10 runs in first two balls to start the run-chase

With Abhishek Sharma smashing the first two balls of the innings for 10 runs against UAE, he did the same against Afridi. The left-hander stepped out to Afridi first ball and smacked him for a boundary down the ground, followed by a maximum over extra cover.

Although Ayub had dismissed both Abhishek Sharma (31) and Shubman Gill (10) to give their side a glimmer of hope, the pressure had significantly reduced on India. Later, Suryakumar and Tilak Varma manoeuvred the ball exceptionally well and took calculated risks to keep the pressure on their arch-rivals.

Suryakumar finished the match with a massive six and stayed unbeaten on 47 to seal a seven-wicket victory only in 15.5 overs.