India registered a comprehensive 8-wicket win over Pakistan in their last 2018 Asia Cup group match against Pakistan at Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai on Wednesday.
Both the teams have already entered Super Four, thanks to their respective wins over Associate side Hong Kong.
Skipper Rohit Sharma scored his fastest half-century in ODIs, in 36 balls, to set up the win after bowlers dominated Pakistan batsmen.
Chasing a paltry total of 162, India reached the target with 126 balls remaining in the match. India's chase got off to a flying start with openers Shikhar Dhawan (18) and Rohit Sharma (38) posting 58 runs in 10 overs.
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Then, Ambati Rayudu and Dinesh Karthik finished the job with unbeaten, identical scores of 31. Dhawan made 46.
Earlier, after struggling to beat Associate team Hong Kong in their first Asia Cup 2018 group match, defending champions India dismissed Pakistan for a lowly 162 all out.
Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed won the toss and opted to bat first, probably looking at the history of the fixture. In the last five previous fixtures, the team batting first has all the matches. India have won four of those – by three wickets in 2010, by six wickets in 2014, by six wickets in 2012 and by five wickets in 2016. Pakistan beat India by one wicket in 2014.
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After Bhuvneshwar Kumar's two early wickets, Babar Azam and Shoaib Malik steadied the Pakistan innings. But Kuldeep Yadav broke the 82-run third-wicket stand by removing Azam in the 22nd over, clean bowled.
Bhuvneshwar and Jadhav took three wickets each, while Jasprit Bumrah contributed with two scalps. Kuldeep Yadav got one.
Shoaib Malik got run out with Ambati Rayudu producing a direct hit in the 27th over.
Pakistan suffered a batting collapse losing five wickets for 36 runs before Faheem Ashraf (21) and Mohammed Aamir (16) added 37 runs for the eighth wicket to take the total past 150-run mark.
But, none of the Pakistani batsmen reached the 50-run mark, with Babar Azam (47) top-scoring. Veteran Shoaib Malik made 43.
Teams
India: Rohit Sharma(c), Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni(wk), Hardik Pandya, Kedar Jadhav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal
Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed(c & wk), Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Usman Khan
Squads:
Pakistan: Imam-ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed (c/wk), Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Usman Khan, Shan Masood, Haris Sohail, Mohammad Nawaz, Junaid Khan, Shaheen Afridi
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik (wk), MS Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, K Khaleel Ahmed, Yuzvendra Chahal, Lokesh Rahul, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah
