DUBAI: Axar Patel removed Fakhar Zaman and Salman Ali Agha to increase pressure on Pakistan in their Asia Cup 2025 clash at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
Pakistan lost early wickets of Saim Ayub and Mohammad Haris.
Pakistan are batting after skipper Salman Ali Agha won the toss and put India to ball first.
Hardik Pandya dismissed Saim while Jasprit Bumrah sent back Haris to pavilion. Axar Patel removed Zaman in seventh over.
An India-Pakistan cricket match is always a blockbuster, but emotions are running even higher as the nuclear-armed neighbours engaged in a four-day military conflict earlier this year.
Even before the clashes in May, which nearly escalated into a full-blown war, bilateral cricket ties had been suspended. The arch-rivals now play each other only in multi-team tournaments.
India, the reigning 20-over world champions, are firm favourites to retain their Asia Cup title and are determined not to let geopolitics derail their campaign.
India appear by far the strongest side in the eight-team tournament, having reinforced themselves with the selection of pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and top order batter Shubman Gill.
They were ruthless in their nine-wicket demolition of the United Arab Emirates, whom they routed for 57 in 13.1 overs before returning to chase down the target in 27 balls on Thursday.
Pakistan also opened their account with an easy victory against Oman but their batting has been rather inconsistent.
Pakistan are without former skippers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan but will take heart from winning a T20 tri-series in UAE, also involving Afghanistan, before heading into the Asia Cup.
Playing XIs
Pakistan: Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Mohammad Haris (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Salman Ali Agha (c), Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem and Abrar Ahmed.
India: Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy and Jasprit Bumrah.
Head-to-head
Pakistan and India have come face-to-face 13 times in T20Is, with the Men in Blue dominating the head-to-head record with 10 victories, while Pakistan emerged triumphant thrice.
However, in their previous three meetings at the aforementioned venue, Pakistan hold the edge, winning two games, including their historic win during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021.
Matches: 13
India: 10
Pakistan: 3
Form Guide
Pakistan and India enter the high-octane fixture with similar momentum in their favour as they both have just one defeat in their last five completed T20Is respectively.
India kicked off their Asia Cup 2025 campaign with a thumping nine-wicket victory over United Arab Emirates (UAE), while Pakistan crushed Oman by 93 runs.
Pakistan: W, W, W, L, W (most recent first)
India: W, W, W, L, W
