Asia Cup Super 4, India vs Pak: Blank bullets and ruthless strikes

India versus Pakistan in T20 cricket is always billed as the great equaliser of sport— passion, pressure, and unpredictability. Yet, every time they face off these days, India walk away looking like a champion side following a familiar script, while Pakistan are left playing the same tired role of noisy underdogs with little to show for it.

Batting first, Pakistan posted what, on paper, looked like a competitive total: 171 in 20 overs. For the first half of their innings, it even seemed like they had arrived with intent.

Pakistan opener Sahibzada Farhan led the charge with a blistering 58 off 45 balls, lacing boundaries with confidence. Upon reaching his fifty, he pulled out a gun-firing celebration—perhaps aimed at unsettling the Indian bowlers, or simply to trend on social media.

The problem is, in cricket as in life, theatrics without a result ring hollow. By the time the match ended, that celebration felt more like a toy pistol at a military parade.

Support for Farhan was patchy at best. Saim Ayub chipped in with 21 off 17, flashing brightly before fading like a sparkler in the rain. Hussain Talat scratched his way to 10 off 11—an innings that stalled momentum as effectively as a traffic light in Karachi.

Mohammad Nawaz contributed 21 off 19, while Salman Ali Agha (17* off 12) and Faheem Ashraf (20* off 8) attempted a late push that inflated the total but never transformed it. Respectable? Yes. Frightening? No.

Then came India’s reply—a cold dose of reality. Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill strode out and immediately ripped apart Pakistan’s bowling.

Front-foot drives, lofted sixes, and a tempo that suggested they were chasing 271, not 171. By the end of the Power Play, Pakistan’s attack looked like it had been ambushed by a marching band: loud, relentless, and impossible to silence.

The Pakistani bowlers offered little resistance. Line, length, and sanity deserted them in equal measure. By the 10th over, the body language told the story—fielders with hands on hips, bowlers staring into the distance, and a captain who looked like he was solving a math problem no one else understood.

India, meanwhile, went about the chase clinically, as if determined to show that class is not about noise but execution.

It all ended inside the 19th over, with India winning by 6 wickets. For Pakistan, the night served as yet another reminder that cricket is not won with gun gestures, theatrical optics, or hashtags, but through skill and composure under pressure. For India, it was business as usual—professional, polished, and ruthless.

Final word: India are scripting victories, while Pakistan are still rehearsing celebrations.