Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar questioned the Suryakumar Yadav-led side's batting approach in the Asia Cup final against Pakistan in Dubai on Sunday. Gavaskar made the comments after Pakistan stunned India with a few early wickets in the chase of 147. India's top three -- Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Kumar -- all flopped in the high pressure chase. As India hit the panic button, Gavaskar, who was on commentary duty, was fuming at the batters over their approach.
"Why are they panicking?" Gavaskar was heard as saying on-air.
Openers Abhishek and Gill were dismissed by Faheem Ashraf, while Suryakumar's poor run of form continued as he mistimed a shot off Shaheen Afridi.
Earlier, India spinner Kuldeep Yadav took four wickets to trigger a batting collapse and bowl Pakistan out for 146.
Pakistan started strongly as openers Sahibzada Farhan, who made 57, and Fakhar Zaman, who made 46, put on 84 runs but the team slipped from 113-1 to be bowled out in 19.1 overs.
Farhan fell after his second fifty in this edition of the regional tournament played in the T20 format after the batter attempted a second successive six off spinner Varun Chakravarthy.
Zaman took charge and along with Saim Ayub kept up the attack with regular boundaries until Kuldeep struck in the 13th over.
Ayub fell to Kuldeep's left-arm wrist spin as Pakistan lost six wickets for 21 runs.
Zaman fell short of his fifty and Kuldeep struck with three wickets in the 17th over, including skipper Salman Agha for eight.
Pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah raised the heat when he bowled Haris Rauf for six and made a gesture similar to the one the Pakistan bowler had done to the crowd in the previous meeting between the two teams.
Bumrah got Rauf and then Mohammad Nawaz to wrap up the innings in 19.1 overs.
(With AFP Inputs)
