Avishka and Gill’s destructive partnership blows Pakistan away
After struggling with both bat and ball in the group stage, Pakistan put up a decent total this time. However, their bowling and fielding fell short. With an explosive opening partnership between Avishka Sharma and Shubman Gill, India once again defeated their arch-rivals to kick off their Asia Cup Super Four campaign.
The T20 World Champions and world number one side won by 6 wickets, chasing down 172 runs with 7 balls to spare in Dubai on Sunday.
In this T20 format, India has won 12 out of 15 matches against Pakistan (including a tie-breaker victory in the 2007 World Cup). Their last four encounters have all ended in India’s favor.
Pakistan started solidly, scoring 91 runs for 1 wicket in the first 10 overs, but losing a few wickets in the middle overs slowed their run rate. They managed to reach 171 in 20 overs, including 42 runs in the last three overs.
India’s fielding was poor, dropping four catches—the most they have missed against Pakistan in a match since the 2022 T20 World Cup.
Sahibzada Farhan capitalized on a life at zero, scoring 58 off 45 balls with 5 fours and 3 sixes. But the real firepower came from Avishka, who played a blistering 74 off 39 balls with 5 sixes and 6 fours, earning Man of the Match. Gill contributed 47 off 28 balls.
The opening pair amassed 105 runs in just 59 balls, marking India’s highest opening partnership against Pakistan in T20 Asia Cups. This broke the previous record of 77 runs set by Ajinkya Rahane and Gautam Gambhir in 2012.
The match also saw a repeat of controversy from their group-stage clash—India refused to shake hands with Pakistan players at the toss and after the match.
Pakistan lost early wickets, including a disputed dismissal of Fakhar Zaman in the third over. Replays confirmed the out after some debate, leaving Fakhar visibly frustrated.
The Indian duo dominated from the start. By the end of the powerplay, Pakistan had scored 55/1, their highest in the powerplay against India in 15 T20 matches, surpassing the previous mark of 54 in 2012 at Ahmedabad.
Even with spinners brought into attack, Pakistan struggled. Avishka and Gill kept scoring freely, with Avishka reaching his 50 in just 24 balls, the fastest by any Indian opener against Pakistan in T20s after Mohammad Hafeez’s 23-ball fifty in 2012.
Eventually, wickets fell—Gill was bowled by Fahim Ashraf, and Avishka was caught after smashing multiple sixes—but Tilak Varma and Hardik Pandya finished the chase in style, smashing successive sixes off Shaheen Shah Afridi to seal victory.
Match Summary
- Pakistan: 171/5 in 20 overs (Sahibzada 58, Fakhar 15, Sime 21, Talat 10, Nawaz 21, Salman 17*, Fahim 20*; Pandya 3-0-29-1, Bumrah 4-0-45-0, Varun 4-0-25-0, Kuldeep 4-0-31-1, Axar 1-0-8-0, Dube 4-33-2)
- India: 174/4 in 18.5 overs (Avishka 74, Gill 47, Suryakumar 0, Tilak 30*, Samson 13, Pandya 7*; Afridi 3.5-0-40-0, Sime 3-0-35-0, Abrar 4-0-42-1, Haris 4-0-26-2, Fahim 4-0-31-1)
Result: India won by 6 wickets
Man of the Match: Avishka Sharma
