Asia Cup: Kuldeep shines in operation 'white ball', spins Pakistan into trouble
Dubai (The Uttam Hindu): The Indian cricket team defeated Pakistan by 7 wickets in the Asia Cup 2025 match played at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday. The hero of this successful 'white ball' operation of the Indian team was the charismatic left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav. Kuldeep Yadav, who took 3 wickets for 18 runs in 4 overs and broke the back of Pakistan was chosen as the best player of the match.
After receiving the award, Kuldeep Yadav said, "I had my plans and I implemented them. I bowled with the mindset of taking wickets from the first ball itself. I don't look at who the batsman is, I just focus on bowling. Sometimes I try to bring more variety. I still have to work on my bowling." Talking about the match, Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha won the toss and decided to bat first which the Indian bowlers proved completely wrong. Pakistan could score 127 runs for 9 wickets in 20 overs in front of the trio of Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakraborty and Axar Patel. If Shaheen Afridi, who came to bat at number nine had not played an unbeaten innings of 33 runs hitting 4 sixes in 16 balls, Pakistan would not have even crossed the 100 mark. Sahibzada Farhan scored 40 runs in 44 balls.
Apart from Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel took 2 wickets for 18 runs in 4 overs. Jaspreet Bumrah took 2 wickets for 28 runs in 4 overs and Varun Chakravarthy took 1 wicket for 24 runs in 4 overs. Hardik Pandya was the most expensive. He got 1 wicket by conceding 34 runs in 4 overs. Abhishek Sharma made a brilliant start for the Indian team chasing the target of 128 runs given by Pakistan and showed his class by hitting a four and a six on the first two balls of Shaheen Afridi. Sharma scored 31 runs with the help of 4 fours and 2 sixes in 13 balls. Gill scored 10 runs in 7 balls, Tilak Verma was out after scoring 31 runs in 31 balls. For India, captain Surya Kumar Yadav finished the match by scoring an unbeaten 47 runs in 37 balls. He won the match by hitting a six consecutively. Shivam Dubey remained unbeaten on 10 runs. The Indian team won the match by 7 wickets by scoring 131 runs for 3 wickets in 15.5 overs.