India's Shubman Gill and opener Abhishek Sharma provided a blistering start to India's chase of 172 against Pakistan in the Asia Cup Super Four clash at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Abhishek Sharma set the tone immediately by hitting Shaheen Shah Afridi for a six on the very first ball of the innings, while Gill followed up with powerful fours off both Saim Ayub and Afridi. But what followed was a complete cinema. After crunching a handsome four Gill ordered Afridi to fetch the ball from boundary. "Jaa ball lekar aa," Said Gill to Afridi.
Watch Shubman Gill's befitting reply to Afridi after cracking a four:
This gesture instantly reminded Indian fans of the famous Aamer Sohail versus Venky Prasad incident from the 1996 ODI World Cup. However, unlike that classic moment, Afridi was unable to get his revenge on the next ball, as Prasad had done to Sohail.
Gill ended up scoring a blistering 28-ball 47 while Abhishek cracked a lightning 39-ball 74 to put India on course of victory. India were strongly placed at 148/4 as of 16.4 overs with Tilak Varma and Hardik Pandya intact on the crease unscathed.
Batting first Pakistan posted a competitive total of 171/5 after jittery start. While the Men in Blue were a bit sloppy in the field, dropping four catches, their bowlers were effective enough to keep Pakistan's total from getting out of hand. Pakistan was restricted to 171/5, with Sahibzada Farhan scoring 58 off 45 balls after being given two lifelines. For India, Shivam Dube was the standout bowler, taking 2/33 in his four overs.
Pakistan's Playing XI: Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Fakhar Zaman, Salman Agha(c), Hussain Talat, Mohammad Haris(w), Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed
India's Playing XI: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson(w), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy