close
Tuesday March 19, 2024

India restrict Pakistan to 237-7 despite Malik’s 78

By Our Correspondent
September 24, 2018

DUBAI: Pakistan’s batting continued to punch below its weight here at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

Looking to avenge their eight-wicket thrashing at the hands of India at the same venue last week, Pakistan opted to bat first but were unable to break through the shackles despite a sparkling 90-ball 78 from Shoaib Malik.

From start to finish, the Indian bowlers led by Jasprit Bumrah, held the upper hand as Pakistan struggled to keep the scoreboard moving and in the end could just post 237-7 on a wicket that hardly hid any demons.

Once again, Pakistan displayed this inability to rotate the strike early on and then failed to make up for it in the final overs of their innings in this crucial Super Fours game of the Asia Cup.

Even a 107-run partnership for the fourth wicket featuring Malik and Sarfraz Ahmed (44 from 66 balls) proved insufficient as they could get just 68 runs from the last 10 overs. With Bumrah bowling one perfect Yorker after another the final five overs could fetch just 26 runs for the Pakistanis.

Pakistan lost opener Imam-ul-Haq early. For the first time in the tournament, Fakhar Zaman exhibited glimpses of his big-hitting prowess but he was unlucky to fall after making a 44-ball 31. In a bid to compensate for a series of dot balls which were beginning to hurt the Pakistani innings, Fakhar tried to sweep spinner Kuldip Yadav but slipped and was given out lbw. Babar Azam advised him against taking the review which later proved to be a bad call as TV replays clearly showed that the ball had brushed Fakhar’s gloves.

Babar soon became a victim of a run out and the responsibility to lift the innings fell on the experienced Malik and captain Sarfraz. The two rebuilt the innings taking Pakistan to 165 in the 39th over. Sarfraz was scalped by Yadav while Malik fell to Bumrah leaving the task to provide a final flourish to the innings to Asif Ali. The big-hitting Asif hit a quickfire 30 but fell to Yuzvendra Chahal trying to play across the line.

Chahal took 2-38 in his nine overs while Bumran finished with 2-29 in his 10 overs.India retained the same team which beat Bangladesh on Friday while Pakistan brought back paceman Mohammad Amir and fit-again Shadab Khan in place of Usman Shinwari and Haris Sohail from the side which won against Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi on Friday.