India vs Pakistan, Asia Cup 2018: 3 players who won the crucial match for India

India had a very comfortable outing against Pakistan as they beat them with eight wickets in hand. The Indian bowlers bowled superb line and length and so were able to restrict Pakistan to just 162 runs. The runs on board were too less to defend against probably the best ODI team in the world right now.

The Pakistani batsmen played poor shots, were quite impatient on the crease and went rashly after the part-time Kedar Jadhav. Hence, here they lost the plot and couldn't recover to post a respectable total to defend against a good Indian batting line-up without Virat Kohli. The Indian batsmen effortlessly chased down this total to deliver Pakistan their first defeat in this Asia Cup

Let us have a look at the 3 players who helped India win this match.

#3 Kedar Jadhav

Kedar Jadhav was the unlikely hero in today's crucial encounter against Pakistan. Being a part-time bowler capable of bowling 5-6 overs in a match, Jadhav surprised the opposition today with his variations, thanks to his round-arm action. Pakistani batsmen tried to go after him as he was the sixth bowler but were quite unsuccessful and lost the game here.

Kedar Jadhav bowled a total of 9 overs and picked up 3 wickets by giving away just 23 runs at an economy rate of 2.56. He also picked up the important wicket of the opposite teams' captain Sarfraz Ahmed who has the ability to stay on the wicket for a long time and score big runs for his team.

His ability to pick up wickets in the middle overs was helpful for India as they restricted Pakistan to just 162 runs.

#2 Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma was back to his best in this match and looked like he was going to put a good score on board. Having got out quite early against Hong Kong in the previous match, Rohit got a good start despite looking tentative.

He began to move his feet positively, timed the ball with perfection and was scoring boundaries with ease. Rohit managed to score a quick fire 52 runs in 39 balls at an impressive strike rate of 133.33 before getting out to Shadab Khan.

His opening partnership with Shikhar Dhawan comfortably set up the run chase for India. Sharma's form will prove to be crucial for India in the remaining matches of the Asia Cup.

#1 Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Bhuvneshwar Kumar started the game with a bang and was on top of his game. Despite not getting wickets in the previous game against Hong Kong with the new ball, Kumar today bowled a good line and length and didn't give room to Fakhar Zaman to open up his arms and slash the ball to the boundary.

He kept on bowling straight stump to stump and reap his reward by getting two wickets in quick succession at the start. His first two wickets included Zaman who had single-handedly won the 2017 Champions Trophy final for Pakistan against India. He ended up with impressive figures of 3/15 in 7 overs at an economy rate of 2.14.

His new ball partnership with Jasprit Bumrah is probably one of the best in the world right now.