DUBAI: Opener Abhishek Sharma hit a blazing 74 as India beat Pakistan by six wickets and again refused to shake hands with their opponents in the Super Four clash of the Asia Cup on Sunday.
Chasing 172 for victory, India rode on a 105-run opening stand between the left-handed Abhishek and Shubman Gill, who made 47, to achieve their target with seven balls to spare in Dubai.
The rivals came into the contest of the regional tournament with tensions high after India angered Pakistan by also refusing to shake hands when the pair met in the group stage.
Tempers flared on the field when Gill and Shaheen Afridi exchanged simmering glances after the batter hit the pace bowler for a boundary.
Both Abhishek and Gill came out roaring with a flurry of boundaries to unsettle the Pakistan attack as they raced to 101-0 in 9 overs.
Abhishek and Haris Rauf kept up the spice with a fiery exchange.
“Today was pretty simple, the way they were coming out to us without any reason, I did not like it at all,” Abhishek said after being named player of the match.
“That’s why I went after them. I wanted to deliver for the team.”
Medium-pace bowler Faheen Ashraf bowled Gill, and Rauf in the next over took down skipper Suryakumar Yadav for a duck to check India’s surge.
Abhishek fell to Abrar Ahmed’s leg spin after his 35-ball blitz laced with six fours and five sixes.
Rauf took one more wicket but Tilak Varma, with his unbeaten 30 off 19 balls, steered the team home off a six and a four.
The Indian batters quickly left the field while Pakistan players shook hands among themselves.
“We are yet to play a perfect game, but we are getting there,” said Pakistan captain Salman Agha. “A great game but in the powerplay (first six overs) they took the game away from us.”
- Gun celebration -
India won the toss and fielded first, but Pakistan came out attacking as Sahibzada Farhan, who hit 58, and Saim Ayub, who made 21, put on 72 runs for the second wicket, to help their team reach 171-5.
Fakhar Zaman opened with Farhan and started aggressively in his nine-ball 15 before being caught behind.
Farhan kept up the charge as he hit five fours and three sixes in his 45-ball knock as he reached his fifty with a six and celebrated by using his bat to mimmick a gun.
India hit back with three wickets, including Farhan who was dismissed by medium-pace bowler Shivam Dube, as Pakistan slipped to 115-4.
Mohammad Nawaz made 21 before he was run out.
Agha, on 17, and Faheem Ashraf, with 20 off eight balls, struck 22 between them to boost the total.
Dube stood out with figures of 2-33, but Indian fielders had a day to forget as they dropped four catches.
India beat Pakistan in their group match, which was the first cricketing clash between the rival nations since a four-day cross-border conflict in May left more than 70 people dead.
Andy Pycroft turned out as match referee for the Super Four match in spite of Pakistan lodging a protest with the International Cricket Council, alleging that the Zimbabwean had told Agha not to approach Suryakumar for a handshake.
The Pakistan Cricket Board demanded that Pycroft be removed from their matches and threatened to withdraw from the eight-team T20 competition.
Because of fraught political ties, nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan only meet at neutral venues during multi-team tournaments.
Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are the other teams in the Super Four. The top two will move into the final on September 28.
