Legendary Sunil Gavaskar lavished praise on the Indian openers, Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill, after Men in Blue claimed a six-wicket win against Pakistan in the Super Four clash of the Asia Cup 2025 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai on Sunday.
The Indian opening duo added 105 runs off just 59 balls as they batted at the top of their game. While Abhishek scored a blistering knock of 74 runs off just 39 balls, Gill scored an impressive knock of 47 runs off 28 balls. The left-right batting combination took an aggressive approach from the get-go in the run chase of 172 and laid down a perfect foundation.
Gavaskar also lauded the depth of Indian cricket and said that having three all-rounders in the playing XI, helps the team in maintaining the right balance.
Sunil Gavaskar said on India Today, “India won the powerplay convincingly with the opening partnership between Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill. They just took the game away from Pakistan. If Pakistan had got a wicket or two in the first six overs, it would have been tough going for India. I am not saying India wouldn’t have got there, but the ease with which they got…
“They could afford to lose 2-3 wickets. They could afford to lose Suryakumar Yadav, their captain, for a duck and yet end up winning with more than an over to spare. It just tells you when you have depth in batting as you have. And that’s thanks to the all-rounders – Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel. It gives the captain so many options both in batting and bowling,” the batting legend added.
SKY was dismissed for a three-ball duck as he top-edged the ball to third man when he was looking to play over fine leg.
Meanwhile, the former Indian opener added that the Indian players are super confident and have full faith in their abilities.
“It’s the temperament. Players are super confident. They have tremendous confidence in their ability to pull off the impossible. That is what helps any team to beat the odds. Despite dropping four catches, which could have cost them 20-30 runs, the way they came back after the half time and bowled those overs… At half time, they [Pakistan] were 91-1 and could have scored another 120 runs.”
India will next take on Bangladesh at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai on Wednesday.
