Asia Cup: India Beat Pak By 7 Wickets, Players Refrain From Shaking Hands

Dubai- Kuldeep Yadav's craft and Axar Patel's discipline was way beyond comprehension for a clueless group of Pakistani batters as India displayed absolute dominance to register a convincing seven-wicket victory in a lopsided Asia Cup match here on Sunday.

Despite calls for boycotting the match from certain quarters as a mark of protest for the Pahalgam terror attack in April, a near full-capacity crowd dominated by 85 percent Indian fans witnessed a clinical decimation of Pakistan - one ball at a time.

And to rub it in, neither at the toss nor at the end of the match did the India players shake hands with their counterparts from Pakistan, even as they waited in a queue moments after skipper Suryakumar Yadav sealed the issue with a six.

Spinners Axar (2/18 in 4 overs), Kuldeep (3/18 in 4 overs) and Varun (1/24 in 4 overs) were immaculate in terms of line and length as none of the Pakistani batters showed the wherewithal to play the troika from their hands.

The result was a lowly 127 for nine from Pakistan which was at least 50 runs below the par-score.

In reply, Abhishek Sharma (31 off 13 balls) flayed their biggest bowling hope Shaheen Shah Afridi (0/23 in 2 overs) with utter disdain, while Suryakumar celebrated his 35th birthday with a fine 47 not out off 37 balls in a chase that was completed in 15.5 overs.

Suryakumar finished it off in style and then walked straight back to the dug-out without shaking hands with the Pakistan players on the field.

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