Asia Cup: Imperious India cruise to seven-wicket win over Pakistan

Right from the first legal ball of the match, it was India that was in control. Pakistan opener Saim Ayub had a rush of blood to the head as he spooned a square drive to point off Hardik Pandya's second ball.

The mercurial Jasprit Bumrah picked up the second wicket in the next over when Mohammad Haris skied a pick-up shot that was gobbled up by Pandya, leaving Pakistan 6/2.

Pakistan battled to 42/2 at the end of the power play, after which India further strangled them with spin. Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel wove their webs of deception to slow the scoring rate to a crawl.

Frustrated, Fakhar Zaman and Sakman Agha attempted to press matters but would fall to slog shots. Opener Sahibzada Farhan was still around and gave Pakistan some hope with an attritional 40 off 44 before Yadav dismissed him.

At the back end, Shaheen Shah Afridi clubbed a personal T20I best of 33 off 16 to take Pakistan to 127/9.

Ayub would exact some retribution as claimed the scalps of both Indian openers in Abishek Sharma and Shubman Gill, but damage had already been done at 41/2 in the fourth over. India captain Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma didn't score freely, but given the measly total, they didn't have to.  

Yadav would top score with 47 not out as he guided his team to a seven-wicket victory with 25 balls remaining.

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