India vs Pak, Asia Cup 2025: Kuldeep, Axar shine with ball as India restrict Pakistan to 127/9 in high-voltage clash

Kuldeep Yadav (3/18) and Axar Patel (2/18) helped India restrict Pakistan for a paltry 127 for 9 in their Group A tie of the Asia Cup here on Sunday.

India began with Hardik Pandya dismissing Saim Ayub on the first legitimate delivery of the game and Jasprit Bumrah dismissing Mohammad Haris next to leave Pakistan tottering at 6 for 2.

Spinners Kuldeep (4-0-18-3) and Patel (4-0-18-2) then stifled Pakistan middle order with regular strikes and tight bowling lines.

Sahibzada Farhan scored a valiant 40 (44 balls, 1x4s, 3x6s) but the rest of the Pakistani batters cut a sorry figure on a docile track here.

Shaheen Afridi hit a crucial 16-ball 33 not out towards the end to take Pakistan past 100-run mark.

Earlier, Pakistan captain Salman Agha won the toss and elected to bat against India in their Asia Cup Group A match here on Sunday.

Both teams are coming off comprehensive wins in their opening matches and have decided to field the same playing XIs.

Teams:

India: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav©, Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson(wk), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy.

Pakistan: Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Mohammad Haris(wk), Fakhar Zaman, Salman Agha©, Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Abrar Ahmed. —with PTI