(Image source from: Business Recorder)
A gleeful India captain Rohit Sharma showered kudos on his bowlers, as India won over Pakistan in Asia Cup on Sunday in Dubai, with a comfortable nine-wicket.
To outclass Pakistan, the men in blue came with another brilliant show, all thanks to the Indian bowlers, and openers Rohit and Shikhar Dhawan.
"The entire bowling unit stuck to their task and hats off to them. Repeated performances are challenging in these conditions and once again I don't want to take any credit from the bowlers," Rohit, the stand-in India skipper, said after the match.
For India, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav took two wickets each.
Indian openers Rohit and Shikhar, chasing an average 238-run target, single-handedly dominated the Pakistani bowling attack, adding another failure to the Sarfraz Ahmed-led side in the tournament.
Pakistan, looking for wickets, got an ease too late, as a run out by Hasan Ali packed back Dhawan when India was 28 runs away from a comfy win.
It was a cake walk for Ambati Rayudu (12 off 18) to lead his side to another credible triumph in the tournament, who was an incoming batsman.
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Earlier, Shoaib Malik's disciplined innings along with a utile part from Sarfraz helped Pakistan post 237/7 against India.
Malik scored 78 runs in 90 balls and Sarfraz made 44 runs in 66 balls to forge a crucial 107-run fourth wicket partnership to guide their team to a respectable total.
"With Shikhar, I don't need to talk much. It's important to let him be himself. We have batted enough to know each other to start off like that and we clearly know our roles," Rohit added.
In the meantime, commending the Pakistan bowling attack, Dhawan said: "Pakistan got a good bowling attack and I knew that as openers we have to stay because they have got good pace and once I got to set and I kept carrying on."
"As I've mentioned I wanted to be sensible with my shots and I've thrown it away in the past and I have learned the lessons the hard way," he added.
India will now, on Tuesday, take on Afghanistan in their last Super Four tie-in Dubai on Tuesday.
-Sowmya Sangam
