India v Pakistan: Successive ducks for Saim Ayub as Hardik Pandya achieves unique feat

There is unreal hype whenever India plays Pakistan in cricket and while the buzz this time isn't up to usual levels, the Dubai Cricket Stadium has seen the crowds coming in reasonably good numbers. In such high-pressure games, it is about handling the pressure and as such, the team that starts well always has a huge psychological advantage in the contest. On a dry pitch where both teams have stacked up their spin options, Pakistan opted to bat even as history suggests chasing to be a better option in Dubai. Nevertheless, both captains got what they wanted at the toss.

India took the early advantage in the contest when the first legal delivery of the match saw a wicket. After getting his inswinger wrong to concede a wide, Hardik got one to angle across Ayub who couldn't keep his square cut down, thereby presenting a dolly to Jasprit Bumrah at backward point. It was the second successive game in which Ayub had fallen for a duck, after having fallen LBW second ball against Oman last game. Given his role as the team's most dangerous T20 batter, Ayub's dismissal was a big dent for Pakistan upfront. Meanwhile, Hardik became only the second Indian after Arshdeep Singh to get a wicket off the first legal ball in a T20I.

Ayub's dismissal was soon followed by that of last match hero Mohammad Haris whose unwise idea of taking on Bumrah straightaway resulted in predictable disaster. The slog was a total miscue and only went as far as backward square leg where Hardik came forward, covering a lot of yards from the deep to take a sliding catch. Early signs are that the pitch isn't the easiest to bat on and a par total seems to be in the 150-160 range. Whether Pakistan can reach there will depend on how they deal with Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakaravarthy, both of whom could be a handful on this pitch. As will Axar Patel with his accurate left-arm spin.