Asia Cup, 2018: Three reasons why India beat Pakistan

India thumped Pakistan in the match of the Asia Cup by 8 wickets and 126 balls to spare -their largest victory against the Green Army in terms of balls to spare. Having narrowly defeated Hong Kong, Rohit Sharma and Co. made light work of Pakistan to win two matches on the trot.

After a poor start to Pakistan's innings, Shoaib Malik (43) and young Babar Azam (47) got their team back into the game, but a late flurry of wickets that led to a total of 162 and some ordinary bowling from their seamers meant that the game was out of their reach. Ultimately, they were outplayed in every department - it was India all day, all afternoon, all evening.

While chasing a target of 163, the captain scored a quick-fire 50 to lay a platform. Kedar Jadhav picked up three wickets and was the pick of the bowlers alongside Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, who ended up with 3 for 15 of 7 overs.

Here are three reasons why India beat Pakistan.

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#3 Strong opening partnership

Formidable, as always

Yes, the total was a mere 162. Yes, the pressure was on the opposition. Yes, the ball was coming to the bat quite nicely. But, you still have to go out there and serve the purpose. Rohit Sharma and his deputy Skikhar Dhawan did exactly that. While Dhawan missed out on his half-century by four runs, Sharma amassed 52 runs.

Although the players seem pretty relaxed, a few nerves would have been playing on everybody's minds. The opening duo put up 86 runs for the first wicket, before the skipper got bowled by a peach from Shadab Khan. There was nothing extraordinary in the approach taken by the Indians, however. Both of them went about their business in a simple manner.

While Sharma put away the shorter balls comfortably in the Power Play to keep a healthy run rate, Dhawan relied on the flicks, cover drives and square drives to collect his runs. The highlight of their game was that both of them didn't try to do anything out of thin air. Instead, the pair played to their strengths. Courtesy of their professionalism upfront, the Blues won this encounter comfortably.

#2 Lack of maturity from the Pakistan batsmen

Imam-ul-Haq gave away his wicket cheaply

If one has a look at Pakistan's innings closely, they would know how cheaply most of the top order batsmen gave away their wickets. Let's start off with the half-centurion from the previous game, Imam-ul-Haq.

Pakistan had got off to a cautious start. Instead of seeing off the shine of the new ball and building an innings from there, he tried to go downtown and smash Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Unfortunately, he edged it to MS Dhoni.

Apart from Shoaib Malik - who was run out, and Babar Azam - who was dismissed by a beauty from Kuldeep Yadav, all the other top and middle order batsmen threw their precious wickets away. While Fakhar Zaman tried to break his duck by skying one over mid-wicket, captain Sarfraz Ahmed attempted a huge one when his side were in desperate need of a partnership.

The likes of Asif Ali and Shadab Khan departed rather easily too. The former edged a wide of off stump ball to Dhoni. Khan on the other hand, was stumped.

#1 Spinners do the trick yet again

Kedar Jadhav had a good outing with the ball

Once again, India's spinners carried the nation's burdens on their shoulders. The pacers did a remarkable job right from the start of the innings, but an 83-run partnership between Malik and Azam meant that Pakistan were steadying their ship.

Then came Kedar Jadhav, who got through his overs quickly, mixed his overs up well with his side-arm action, slower ones and the one that skids through the surface. The all-rounder finished with figures of 9-1-23-3. Not only did he pick up wickets, but also set it up for Kuldeep Yadav to attack.

The chinaman hit the right lengths, bowled at just the right pace and extracted spin off the track. Azam, who looked set for a big innings, was completely outfoxed by his wrong-un. What followed after his and Malik's wicket, was an absolute mess for the Men in Green.

Although Kumar bowled exceptionally well, the game was mainly controlled by the three spinners.