Allergic to handshakes with Pakistan players, India dropped five relatively easy catches against their arch-rivals on Sunday.

But Pakistan failed to capitalise on those fielding lapses from India in the Asia Cup Super Four game at Dubai International Stadium.

Despite sitting comfortably at 91 for one in 10 overs after being asked to bat first by Suryakumar Yadav, Salman Agha's team managed to post only 171 for five.

It was their highest total of the tournament so far, but a target of 172 was never going to challenge the star-studded batting line-up of India.

The reigning world champions romped to a six-wicket victory with seven balls to spare for the perfect start in the Super Four stage.

Openers Abhishek Sharma (74 off 39 balls, 6 fours and 5 sixes) and Shubman Gill (47 off 28 balls, 8 fours) set up India's seventh straight win over Pakistan across formats with a brilliant 105-run first wicket partnership in 9.5 overs.

Sharma, 25, and Gill, 26, batted beautifully in tandem, dismantling the Pakistan attack in their contrasting styles.

Adventurous and inventive, the left-handed Sharma set the tone with a first-ball six against Shaheen Shah Afridi, Pakistan's most experienced bowler.

Already under immense pressure following a handshake controversy and a row over match-referee Andy Pycroft, the stunning six by Sharma in the first ball of the chase demoralised Pakistan.

From then on, the two Punjab batters, who also opened for their state team since the time they started playing age-group cricket, produced a magnificent exhibition of stroke-play.

Agha kept throwing all his bowlers at the two batters, but nothing worked for the Pakistan captain.

Faheem Asraf did earn the breakthrough when he bowled Gill, denying the Indian batter what could have been a well-deserved half-century.

But by the time Gill walked back to the pavilion, his partnership with Sharma had finished the game as a contest.

Skipper Suryakumar was dismissed for a duck by Haris Rauf (4-0-26-2), Pakistan's best bowler of the night, who also clean bowled Sanju Samson (13).

Rauf had a heated exchange with Sharma, but the umpires quickly got the situation under control.

Tilak Varma (30 not out off 19 balls), though, put the icing on the cake, especially his six and the four off Shaheen in the 19th over to take India home in style.

Earlier, opener Sahibzada Farhan (58 off 45 balls, 5 fours, 3 sixes) looked set to take Pakistan to a very big total.

But Indian bowlers fought back to restrict Pakistan to an under-par total on what was a pretty good wicket to bat.

There were some promising starts from Saim Ayub (21 off 17) and Mohammed Nawaz (21 off 19), but none of them managed to get a big score for the team.

If not for Faheem's unbeaten 20 off eight balls, Pakistan would have struggled to reach the 170 mark.

For India, Jasprit Bumrah (4-0-45-0) had a rare off day, bowling uncharacteristic short-balls and full tosses as the pace spearhead struggled for rhythm.

Kuldeep Yadav (4-0-31-1) also had a quiet game by his standards as Pakistan players handled him much better on Sunday.

But Varun Chakravarthy (4-0-25-0) contained the runs, which eventually played a big role in restricting Pakistan to a chaseable total.

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