Ruthless and effortless India punish Pakistan; Surya, Kuldeep the stars in 7-wicket win

India made short work of Pakistan in their much-hyped Asia Cup showdown in Dubai, scripting a 7-wicket win.

Skipper Suryakumar Yadav finished with a flourish, hammering Sufiyan Muqeem for a six, to take himself to 47 not out off 37, as India chased down 127/9 with 25 balls to spare.

Abhishek Sharma gave India a dream start, making 31 off 13 before Saim Ayub removed him.

The Pakistani off-spinner had Shubman Gill (10) stumped and left Tilak Varma (31) bamboozled with his turn, but India had too much firepower to win the battle. 

Earlier, late fireworks from Shaheen Shah Afridi gave Pakistan a respectable total. The lanky pacer remained unbeaten on 33 off 16, having smashed four sixes, including two off Hardik Pandya's final over. Opener Sahibzada Farhan's 44-ball 40 was the other decent effort from a Pakistani batter.

By sharing six of the nine wickets between them, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Varun Chakravarthy showed why it might be tough for an extra pacer to sneak into this spin-heavy Indian bowling unit in the UAE. Yadav finished with 3/18, while Patel claimed 2/18 and Chakravarthy got one.

Salman Ali Agha had won the toss and thought he made the right decision to bat first, but Pakistan were left reeling at 6/2 in just eight balls. After Saim Ayub (0) perished at point, Mohamad Haris (3) skied a Bumrah delivery, gobbled up by Pandya.

Farhan and Fakhar Zaman attempted to rebuild the innings, but India's spin department had too much variety, not just to curtail the run flow, but tempt the Pakistani batters to go after them; only if it was that easy.

Axar Patel struck in his first over, removing Zaman (17), who stepped out but failed to clear long-on, where Tilak Varma took a smart catch. He pressed for more and got Agha (3) caught at square leg, leaving Pakistan reeling at 49/4 in 10 overs.

Then came Kuleep, and turning the game in their favour became all the more difficult for the Pakistanis. Hasan Nawaz (5) and Mohammad Nawaz (0) fell in successive deliveries as the batting side reached 64/6 and never seemed likely to get to triple digits.

But the dismissal of Farhan, who had held fort at one end, brought Afridi to the crease, and he came with a heavy bat that could clear the white ball some distance. He smashed a couple of sixes, and Sufiyan Muqeem wasn't being silent either as he fetched a pair of boundaries off Bumrah. But India's ace pacer bounced back to uproot the stumps of Muqeem (10), with Pakistan 111/9. Then Afridi finished things off with a flourish.

India were unchanged from their 9-wicket win over the UAE in the opener, which meant that Sanju Samson played. But with the Indian top-order finishing the task without much fuss, the Kerala star, who kept the wickets decently, might have to wait for his chance to shine with the bat.

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, Jasprit Bumrah 2/28) lost to India 131/3 in 15.5 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 47 not out, Abhishek Sharma 31, Tilak Varma 31, Saim Ayub 3/35)