India restrict Pakistan to 171 despite Farhan fifty

Pakistan got to their highest T20I score while batting first against India, 171 for 5. If India win, it will be the highest successful chase of Asia Cup 2025. Yet, the total looked insufficient after the start Pakistan had. They scored just 80 runs in the back 10 despite being just one down at the halfway mark.

There was a period of 39 legal deliveries without a boundary leading up to the death overs, which completely derailed what looked like a promising innings that could finally give the tournament a game to remember. It would have frustated Pakistan even more that they had got the better of India's spin threat, hitting three sixes in the first three middle overs, but succumbed to the sixth bowler, Shivam Dube.

Dube ended up with figures of 4-0-33-2, taking the wickets of the two set batters, Sahibzada Farhan and Saim Ayub, who put on 72 for the second wicket after the latter's demotion to No. 3. Farhan, who reached 51 off just 34 balls, ended up with just 58 off 45. It was only Faheem Ashraf's unbeaten 20 off 8 in the end that gave Pakistan respectability.

Pakistan, the slowest side bar Oman and UAE in the middle overs during this Asia Cup, had looked set to correct those numbers, but Dube's breakthrough and the quality of Varun Chakravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav proved to be too big a challenge. Varun went for just 25 in four overs, and Kuldeep returned figures of 4-0-31-1.