Asia Cup: Indian captain Rohit Sharma applauds bowlers after win, Sarfraz blames batsmen
Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan
Despite the result, Pakistan qualified for the Super Four stage along with India
Indian captain Rohit Sharma applauded his spinners for giving his team crucial breakthroughs as the Men in Blue beat Pakistan in the league phase of the Asia Cup on Wednesday in Dubai.
"Our spinners kept it tight, got the odd breakthrough, but the wickets in the first couple of overs were very important," said Sharma.
Bhuvesnwar Kumar gave India the crucial breakthroughs early in the match dismissing openers Imam-ul-Haq (two) and Fakhar Zaman (0) as India gained an upper hand in the crucial encounter early, after that Babur and Shoaib Malik rebuilt the innings but it was stopped in its track by spinner Kuldeep Yadav who dismissed Azam, Pakistan lost seven wickets for the next 77 runs after the 82-run stand for the third wicket.
"It was important to get early wickets because Pakistan have got some quality in the batting," India's stand-in captain Rohit Sharma said after the match.
"We kept things on the stumps and we spoke about not giving Pakistan room," the Indian skipper revealed.
After Pakistan collapsed for just 162 in 43.1 overs, Indian openers led by skipper Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan gave India a blistering start chasing a small target with Sharma hitting three sixes and six boundaries in his 39-ball 52 while fellow opener Shikhar Dhawan hit a six and six fours in his 54-ball 46. India easily wrapped up the match in 29 overs beating Pakistan by 8 wickets.
Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed blamed the batsmen's poor shot selection for his team's demise.
"We didn't have a good start," said Sarfraz, whose openers departed for just three runs.
"Lost two wickets in the first five overs. Then regular wickets meant we couldn't come back into the game. You can say we batted poorly," the Pakistan skipper said.
Despite the result, Pakistan qualified for the Super Four stage along with India with both countries having beaten Hong Kong earlier.
Bangladesh and Afghanistan meet in Abu Dhabi in the last Group B match on Thursday, having already qualified for the second round after Sri Lanka crashed out.
The top two teams from the Super Fours will play the final in Dubai on September 28.