Asia Cup 2016: India beat Pakistan by 5 wickets

27th February, Mirpur (CRICKETNMORE): India rode on a strong bowling performance to defeat arch-rivals Pakistan by five wickets in their Twenty20 International clash of the Asia Cup at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium here on Saturday evening.

Both teams struggled to bat on a greenish wicket with uneven bounce. The Indian bowlers justified their captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's decision to field first by bundling out Pakistan for a mere 83 runs in 17.3 overs. 

The Indian batsmen then braved some excellent bowling by the Pakistan pacers to overhaul the target in 15.3 overs.

Virat Kohli top scored for India with 49. The Delhi lad put on a 68-run stand with Yuvraj Singh (14 not out) to take the match away from Pakistan. 

India vs Pakistan T20 Record: Head to head

The two teams have encountered six times in the shortest format with India leading by 4-1. One match ended in no result.

For India, vice-captain Indian Virat Kohli is the top scorer with 150 runs in 4 matches whereas Pakistan’s Mohammad Hafeez. has scored 147 runs in 5 matches.

Umar Gul of Pakistan is the leading wicket taker with 11 wickets from 6 matches followed by Irfan Pathan of India who took 6 wickets in 3 matches.

Asia Cup Record: Out of 11 matches played against each other, India and Pakistan have won equally five matches each whereas one match was abandoned, due to rain and bad light, in 1997. 

India vs Pakistan Asia Cup 2016 Match Report

Toss: India won the toss and elect to bowl first

Venue: Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur

Team (Playing XI)

Pakistan: Mohammad Hafeez, Khurram Manzoor, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed(w), Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi(c), Imad Wasim, Anwar Ali, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Sami, Sharjeel Khan, Khalid Latif

India : Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni(w/c), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ashish Nehra, Jasprit Bumrah, Ajinkya Rahane