The Asia Cup final is underway, and Pakistan have put their strongest foot forward so far against eternal rivals India. After being put to bat first after the toss went India's way, the Pakistani openers made it their job not to lose a single wicket during the powerplay.
This is only the second time in the history of the rivalry that the Men in Green haven't lost a single wicket in the powerplay against India in T20Is. In the 15 matches prior to the Asia Cup final, 14 times Pakistan have lost a wicket against the Men in Blue.
The only other time they preserved all 10 of their wickets in the powerplay came in the historic T20 World Cup match at the same venue(Dubai International Stadium), when they Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam chased down the target of 152, winning the match by 10 wickets.
Tonight in the Asia Cup final, Sahibzada Farhan and Fakhar Zaman both treaded with caution in the initial overs, only hitting the bad deliveries for boundaries and recording only 5 boundaries, 4 fours and a single maximum.
The power play ended with Sahibzada Farhan scoring 31 runs in 25 deliveries while his left-handed partner scored 12 in 11 balls. The strategy seems to have worked, as at the time of writing this article, Sahibzada Farhan had recorded a half-century, his second 50 in back-to-back matches against India, before holing out to Varun Chakravarty on 57 off 38 deliveries. The veteran Fakhar Zaman, who has played second fiddle up till now, remains unbeaten on 23 off 20 deliveries.
Pakistan will be hoping that the strong start that their openers have provided will result in them posting a huge total in the Asia Cup final. India bats deep, and the only way the Men in Green can put pressure on them is on a track like this is taking their team total to around the 180 mark at least.
