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India captain Suryakumar Yadav revealed that the drinks break during Pakistan's innings marked the turning point of the match. With the Men in Green sitting pretty on 91/1 after the first 10 overs, the Indian bowlers knew that they had to put the breaks on their runs or else they will easily post a total close to 200. They managed to do exactly that and restricted the Men in Green to 171/5 in 20 overs.
Suryakumar remarked that the bowlers changed their body language following the break and started to put in a little more energy. He outlined Shivam Dube's spell in particular to point out how things changed for the Indian team after 10 overs.
"According to me, the turning point was in the first drinks in the first innings. People changed their body language after that. You always see the game changes generally after the powerplay," Suryakumar said at the post-match press-conference.
"But today, the game changed after ten overs, when the bowlers changed their line and lengths, understood what was needed in that situation, and showed a little more energy. The spinners bowled well. And according to me, Shivam Dube's spell, you can say that it was a turning point,' he added.
Suryakumar's verdict on India-Pakistan rivalry
The 35-year-old shared a big statement after his side's victory and stated that the India-Pakistan clash is not a rivalry anymore. To prove his point, he highlighted how the Men in Blue have been dominant in the match-up for quite some time now.
"I would like to say one thing on this question. I feel that you should stop asking this question on the rivalry. Standards and rivalry are the same. According to me, if two teams play 15-20 matches and if [head-to-head] it is 7-7 or 8-7, then that is called a rivalry. But 13-0, 10-1….I don't know what the stats are. But this is not a rivalry anymore. But yeah, I feel we played better cricket than them," Suryakumar stated.
India's dominant display against Pakistan
Meanwhile, India defeated Pakistan comprehensively by 6 wickets in their Asia Cup clash on Sunday. After being given a target of 172 to chase, Indian openers Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill dominated an played highly-important knocks of 74 and 47 respectively. They provided the Men in Blue with a fantastic start and the rest of the work was done by Tilak Varma, who played an impactful cameo of 30 runs which saw Suryakumar & Co. reach the target with seven deliveries left to spare.
India's next opponents in the Super 4 stage will be Bangladesh and they will be facing them on September 24. On the other hand, Pakistan will be hoping to bounce back in their next match of the tournament which will be against Sri Lanka and will be contested on September 23.
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