Dubai, Sep 14 (IANS) Suryakumar Yadav celebrated his 35th birthday in style by hitting an unbeaten 47 off 37 balls to guide India to a clinical seven-wicket win over Pakistan in a marquee Group A clash of the 2025 Men’s T20 Asia Cup at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

Chasing 128 was always going to be an easy ask, and India cruised to victory with 25 balls to spare. It was a game where the reigning T20 World Cup champions showed how much superior they were compared to Pakistan in all aspects of the game.

After the chase was over, Suryakumar and Shivam Dube (10 not out) walked off briskly, with no handshakes exchanged between players once again or the support staff. It came in the backdrop of the game being played for the first time after heightened diplomatic tensions between the two teams earlier this year.

India’s easy chase was also helped by brisk contributions from Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma – both left-handed batters scoring 31 each, as India registered their second consecutive win in the tournament, which also boosts their net run rate.

Abhishek got India off to a blistering start by lofting Shaheen Shah Afridi straight over the umpire’s head for four and followed it up with a clean strike over long-off for six. Shubman Gill hit two sublime fours off Saim Ayub before the batter was stumped for 10.

Abhishek continued his blistering assault by slashing Shaheen behind point for four with an open bat face, before whipping him over mid-wicket for six. Ayub came for a thrashing from Abhishek when he lofted and drove through extra cover for consecutive boundaries.

But Ayub had the last laugh as Abhishek didn’t get elevation after dancing down the pitch for a loft and holed out to long-off for 13-ball 31. Tilak reverse-swept and lofted Mohammad Nawaz for a brace of superb fours, as India ended power-play at 61/2.

With Suryakumar looking comfortable and hitting precise boundaries off spinners, Tilak continued the good work by slog-sweeping Muqeem for a gigantic 98m six and got a reprieve on 30 when Nawaz dropped the return catch after three attempts.

Tilak was finally dismissed on 31 when Ayub got the ball to grip and turn a lot to knock over the off-stump. Suryakumar kept going by cutting and hammering Nawaz for two boundaries before sweeping Ayub through deep backward square leg for four, while Dube lofted the latter over long-on for six. Suryakumar finished off the chase in style by hocking Muqeem for six and sealed the deal in clinical fashion.

Brief Scores:

Pakistan 127/9 in 20 overs (Sahibzada Farhan 40, Shaheen Shah Afridi 33 not out; Kuldeep Yadav 3-18, Axar Patel 2-18) lost to India 131/3 in 15.5 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 47 not out, Abhishek Sharma 31; Saim Ayub 3-22) by seven wickets

–IANS

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