India vs Pakistan, Asia Cup 2025 Match The Dubai International Cricket Stadium in the United Arab Emirates.
First Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat. The innings didn’t go as expected, and Pakistan managed to score 127 runs in 20 overs.
- The top scorer was Sahibzada Farhan, who played a patient innings of 40 runs off 44 balls.
- And then came a quick cameo from Shaheen Afridi, smashing 33 runs off just 16 balls.
- The Third-highest was Fakhar Zaman with 17 runs in 15 balls.
In the end, Pakistan finished with 127/9 in 20 overs.
Then it was India’s turn to chase. From the very beginning, they played aggressively.
- Suryakumar Yadav was the top scorer, making 47 runs off 37 balls.
- Abhishek Sharma gave momentum to the innings with 31 runs off 13 balls.
India successfully chased down the target of 131 runs in 15.6 overs, winning the match comfortably.
India have completed a thumping 7-wicket win over Pakistan in Dubai,
Chasing down 128 in just 15.5 overs. Captain Suryakumar Yadav remained unbeaten on 47 while Abhishek Sharma chipped in with a quick cameo of 31. India have comfortably chased down 128 in just 15.5 overs to register a dominant 7-wicket win over Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2025. Abhishek Sharma’s explosive 31 off 13 balls gave India a flying start, while captain Suryakumar Yadav’s 47 not-out anchored the chase with ease. SKY finished things off in style with a six, as Pakistan’s bowlers had no answers throughout the innings.
India have comfortably chased down 128 in just 15.5 overs to register a dominant 7-wicket win over Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2025. Abhishek Sharma’s explosive 31 off 13 balls gave India a flying start, while captain Suryakumar Yadav’s 47 not-out anchored the chase with ease. SKY finished things off in style with a six, as Pakistan’s bowlers had no answers throughout the innings.
Even after discounting for the overhang of the diplomatic fallout between the nuclear-armed neighbours in recent months, the mood music surrounding the Asia Cup clash between India and Pakistan in Dubai on Sunday has been subdued.
The ‘hype is missing’, a cab driver from Pakistan laments as his gleaming black SUV bears down on the bristling tarmac under the scorching 4 o’clock afternoon desert sun. A thin stream of Pakistani fans is ambling to the stadium in the opposite direction for the contest against Oman—a procession of squinting eyes peering into the horizon.
The Indian coaching staff is left with the unenviable task of fielding questions about using sports as a canvas for political protest that are well beyond their pay grade. They walk on eggshells, trotting out the platitudes of ‘focusing on the cricket’ with the reassurance that the players are ‘sensitive’ to the sensibilities of the Indian public. Their responses betray the feeling of the contest being a ‘necessary evil’, that the show must go on despite the differences.
While some demand answers from former Indian cricketers, others reckon that with the country aspiring to host the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics in the next decade, it is a bullet that must be bitten, however grudgingly.
The simple act of slouching on your couch and tuning into the match on a Sunday evening, or consciously deciding to turn your attention elsewhere, could be construed as a political statement, even though the powers that have made their stance clear; bilateral engagement is a no-go zone, but multi-lateral obligations are unavoidable.
The ground realities are also shrouded in mystery. Three categories of tickets, ranging between USD 213 and 256, are still available less than six hours ahead of play. A ticketing executive expects the stands to fill to some degree, while others presume the match may fail to attract the numbers that the ICC Champions Trophy contest between these teams witnessed in February; even then, about 2000 seats were empty in the 25,000-capacity stadium, though it was a 50-over affair.
The tickets for the Asia Cup went live more than two weeks ago, but the passes for the India vs Pakistan match were bundled with an exorbitant seven-match package that didn’t find too many takers. That strategy was eventually unbundled to provide single-day passes, and a fresh batch of tickets was made available as late as Friday.
Moreover, cricket is still largely an ‘expat’ sport here, and disposable incomes have dropped or stagnated in the wake of COVID-19, limiting the capacity for extraneous expenditures. The absence of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who are on the last legs of their international career, could also keep people away from the turnstiles.
The surging mercury levels, the political morass, and a poorly devised ticketing strategy are all valid deterrents, but the sporting rivalry itself smacks of a lack of competitive edge.
India has overwhelmingly dominated Pakistan in this decade, winning six out of nine games and losing just two. Barring the T20 World Cup encounters in 2022 and 2024, few have been thrilling, and India is on a red-hot five-match winning streak against its archrival across formats.
