The mother of all clashes, the 5th match of the Asia Cup between India and Pakistan began with Pakistan winning the toss and deciding to bat first, and the Pakistan batting began on a disastrous note as Bhuvaneshwar Kumar rattled the top order, as he dismissed Imam U haw and Fakhar Zaman in quick time, and Pakistan were 3/2 at a stage.
However, Babar Azam and Shoaib Malik forged a stand before Kuldeep Yadav scalped Babar after he scored a decent 47(62), and soon after, Shoaib Malik followed suit, scoring a brisk 43(67). What followed later was a batting collapse, as Kedar Jadhav wrecked the middle order of Pakistan, and except for some resistance from Faheem 21(44) and Amir 18(26)*, Pakistan never really recovered from the blow, as they were all out for 162 in 43.1 overs.
Bhuvaneshwar Kumar had scalped 3/15, and Kedhar Jadhav had good figures of 3/23. The Indian innings began on a solid note with skipper Rohit Sharma and the other opener Shikhar Dhawan starting on a strong note, as both, the batsmen decided to settle and attack, as they had an opening stand of 86 before Rohit fell scoring 52(39b,6x4.3x6).
Soon after, Dhawan departed as well, missing out on a deserved half-century, out for 46(54). Ambati Rayudu and Dinesh Karthik entered, and steadily scored runs picking bad deliveries, and never let the momentum gained with the opening stand fade away, and Pakistan bowlers could never make inroads, as Karthik 31(37)* and Rayudu 31(46)* ensured India reached 164/2, in just 29 overs, and winning by 8 wickets.
