IND VS PAK - 5th Match, Group A, Asia Cup 2018

Right then, that's a wrap to tonight's coverage of the Asia Cup. The game was touted to be a blockbuster, didn't quite turn out that way but not to worry. These two sides will be playing each other again on Sunday in the Super Four stage. Pakistan will be seething for revenge and hopefully we get a more intense contest then. There are more games before that one though with Bangladesh facing Afghanistan tomorrow. Another inconsequential game as both sides have qualified and with the seedings predecided, the spots have also been fixed. Nevertheless, both sides will want to enter the next stage on a winning note. Do join us for that one. Until then, this is Hariprasad Sadanandan signing off from the commentary box on behalf of my mates Nikhil Jadhav, Vineet Anantharaman, Kumar Abhisekh Das, MS Ramakrishnan, Sagar Chawla and our scorer Mukesh. Cheers and goodnight!

Biggest wins for Ind vs Pak (balls left):
126 Dubai. 2018 (Target: 163)
105 Multan, 2006 (162)
92 Toronto, 1997 (117)

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Man of the Match: (On his performance) Always need initial wickets to get any team to a low total. It was a great bowling effort. Great to see Jadhav step up in the absence of Hardik Pandya. Great team effort. (On adjusting to UAE pitches) On a track where the ball doesn't swing, that's the only thing you can do. It's important to bowl back of a length and try to hit the stumps, give yourselves a chance. Key is not to give too many runs and force the batsmen to make mistakes. That's the best way to get them out. (On the extreme conditions) It's tough and hot, also the tracks are flat and not easy for the bowlers. Perhaps due to the heat, Hardik got injured as he was playing in England and couldn't adjust to the different conditions here. Not easy for the bowlers.

Rohit Sharma (2/2): He (Jadhav) has been working on his bowling, takes his bowling very seriously. Every now and then, he has come and done the job for the team which augurs well. Bowling those crucial overs and taking wickets are bonuses for us. Especially when Hardik got injured, it was important for him to carry on and put the team into the right track. Quite enjoyed the little innings that I played, got out to a great delivery. Was important for us to come here and adjust. We haven't played here much and the two games that we have played now, we have understood how to create partnerships and achieve targets that we have set for ourselves. Opening partnership sets the platform for the rest to come and play freely, do their job. It was a fantastic finish by Dinesh and Rayudu as well.

Rohit Sharma (1/2): Right from the start, we were quite disciplined. We wanted to learn from the mistakes which we made in the last game. Today was a great game for the bowling department because I knew the conditions weren't great for it. But we kept the conditions aside and did the job. We stuck to our plans. Lot of improvement from the last game, spinners kept it tight, got the odd breakthroughs. The bowlers took wickets early as well, in the first 10 overs which was magnificent. (On the early wickets) It was important to do that because they have quality in there, some of their guys have been scoring heavily. We wanted to make sure not to make things easy for them. We spoke about not giving room to the batsmen which was critical on this pitch where they can free their arms. The first few overs disciplined and the spinners took on from there. Once they had Babar and Malik, they had a partnership, we discussed that there is no need to panic, partnerships can happen. It was important for us to just stick to the plans which the guys did.

Sarfraz Ahmed: The start was not at all good. We lost two wickets in the first five overs. We got some momentum in the middle but again lost wickets and could not recover. We batted poorly and all of us played poor shots to get out. And so many of them were soft dismissals except Babar, who got a good ball. We had prepared for the two spinners but the third one chipped in with wickets. It is nice to get a wake up call early on in the tournament and we would not want to commit the same mistakes. We will come back better prepared next time.

Harsha Bhogle: Fabulous, overpowering performance from India. An anti-climax for a game that promised so much. Pakistan will be the first to admit they were dreadful but that has no correlation to what we will see next from them.

For India, it was a stark contrast to yesterday's struggles when they clearly looked rusty for most parts with the ball. The wrist spin duo were supposed to be the threat for Pakistan but as he has often done in his career so far, Kedar Jadhav proved to be the shock element, firing them in from that extremely low trajectory, compounding the misery for batsmen on such slowish tracks that already have low bounce. His spell was the clincher though the tone was set early by Bhuvi in the opening spell, when he derailed the openers and found the support from his partner in crime Bumrah. The duo were relentless as they generally are and overall, India's bowling was flawless with everything falling into place. Hardik's injury will be a concern though, as will Shadab's for Pakistan. Still early days in the tournament and with the sides expected to lock horns again, we can expect more action.

21:33 Local Time: For all the hype, a damp squib in the end, a rather one-sided contest dominated totally by the Indians. The only time Pakistan seemed to compete was when Malik and Babar were repairing the damage after the early loss of the openers. Once that partnership was broken, Pakistan were never really in the game. 162 was never going to be enough and any slim hope that they had was snuffed out by the Indian openers who put on a rollicking stand. Rohit was in his elements with a free stroking fifty while Dhawan also looked in fabulous touch. The duo couldn't see off the game but had done the damage and the Rayudu-Karthik pair duly finished off the formalities with 21 overs left. A proper thrashing indeed. Pakistan would rue their poor shot selection in the batting that cost them dear, probably were too eager to dominate on a pitch that wasn't easy to play shots. Also, the track did play better under lights, as it did during the India-Hong Kong game, which begs the question whether Sarfraz erred at the toss.

Shoaib Malik to Rayudu, FOUR, Rayudu seals a comprehensive eight-wicket thumping by India! Was a drag down and he rocked back to smash the pull through square leg. Rocketed away to the fence in a jiffy

Shoaib Malik to Karthik, 1 run, drifting into the pads, Karthik gets across a bit and clips it softly in front of short fine leg

Shoaib Malik to Karthik, FOUR, gets the sweep away in the gap this time! Was trying this in the first delivery of the over but couldn't find the gap. Does so this time. Speared well down leg, Karthik gets across to nail the stroke well wide of short fine leg. Just a hit away now, India

Shoaib Malik to Karthik, no run, low full toss on the pads, whipped away but straight to the mid-wicket fielder

Shoaib Malik to Karthik, no run, speared well down leg, Karthik went for the sweep but couldn't beat short fine leg

Abinash Das: @Bibhu Prasad Mohanty: Correct, India's fast bowling arsenal which is capable of winning matches anywhere in the world has finally arrived.

Shoaib Malik to Rayudu, 1 run, darted in on leg stump, Rayudu tucks it towards square leg for a single

Fakhar Zaman to Rayudu, 1 run, tries the inside out loft again but doesn't time it well. Probably wasn't to the pitch of it. Skewed it enough to clear the infield towards sweeper

Fakhar Zaman to Rayudu, no run, quicker one outside off, punched off the back foot towards cover

Fakhar Zaman to Rayudu, no run, some excitement as the ball popped up for a while and Sarfaraz got forward to get to it but doesn't carry. Don't think there was any bat involved. Rayudu used his feet again and decided to block with his bat behind the pad. Was only pad there

Fakhar Zaman to Rayudu, no run, flatter one around off, punched off the back foot to the bowler

Fakhar Zaman to Rayudu, FOUR, finally, Rayudu decides to break the shackles. Was getting into a shell but decides to up the ante. Charges down the track, gets to the pitch and makes room to launch it inside out over extra cover. Just on the bounce past the ropes

Fakhar Zaman to Rayudu, no run, walks down the track but the length is shortened, jabbed back to the bowler