Sharma, Gill strike as India score another Asia Cup win against Pakistan

DUBAI (Agencies): Opener Abhishek Sharma hit a blazing 74 as India beat Pakistan by six wickets and again refused to shake hands with their opponents in the Super Four clash of the Asia Cup on Sunday. Chasing 172 for victory, India rode on a 105-run opening stand between Sharma and Shubman Gill, who made 47, to achieve their target with seven balls to spare in Dubai. The rivals came into the contest of the regional tournament with tensions high after India angered Pakistan by also refusing to shake hands when the pair met in the group stage. Tempers flared on the field when Gill and Shaheen Shah Afridi exchanged simmering glances after the batter hit the pace bowler for a boundary. Both Sharma and Gill came out roaring with a flurry of boundaries to unsettle the Pakistan attack as they raced to 101-0 in 9 overs. Sharma and Haris Rauf kept up the spice with a lively exchange. Medium-pace bowler Faheen Ashraf bowled Gill, and Rauf in the next over took down India skipper Suryakumar Yadav for a duck to check India’s surge. Sharma fell to Abrar Ahmed’s leg spin after his 35-ball blitz laced with six fours and five sixes. Rauf took one more wicket but Tilak Varma, with his unbeaten 30 off 19 balls, steered the team home off a six and a four.

India won the toss and fielded first, but Pakistan came out attacking as Sahibzada Farhan, who hit 58, and Saim Ayub, who made 21, put on 72 runs for the second wicket, to help their team reach 171-5. India beat Pakistan in their group match, which was the first cricketing clash between the rival nations since a four-day cross-border conflict in May left more than 70 people dead. Andy Pycroft turned out as match referee for the Super Four match in spite of Pakistan lodging a protest with the Intern­ational Cricket Council, alleging that the Zimbabwean had told skipper Salman Ali Agha not to approach Suryakumar for a handshake. The Pakistan Cricket Board demanded that Pycroft be removed from their matches and threatened to withdraw from the eight-team T20 competition. Because of fraught political ties, nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan only meet at neutral venues during multi-team tournaments. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are the other teams in the Super Four. The top two will move into the final on September 28.

Brief scores:

India 174 for 4 (Abhishek 74, Gill 47, Tilak 30 not out, Rauf 2-26) beat Pakistan 171 for 5 (Farhan 58, Dube 2-33) by six wickets.