India beat Pakistan convincingly after a shaky start in their Twenty20 International clash of the Asia Cup at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium here on Saturday evening.

India rode on a strong bowling performance to defeat the arch-rivals Pakistan by five wickets.

Both teams struggled to bat on a greenish wicket with uneven bounce. The Indian bowlers justified their captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s decision to field first by bundling out Pakistan for a mere 83 runs in 17.3 overs.

The Indian batsmen then braved some excellent bowling by the Pakistan pacers to overhaul the target in 15.3 overs.

Virat Kohli top scored for India with 49. The Delhi lad put on a 68-run stand with Yuvraj Singh (14 not out) to take the match away from Pakistan.

Earlier, winning the toss, India elected to field. After an early batting collapse, Pakistan could only manage a meager 83 in 17.3 overs.

India had a similar shaky start to their batting, losing hard-hitting batsmen Rohit Sharma (0) and Ajinkya Rahane (0).

Making his comeback to international cricket, after a 5-year ban for spot-fixing, Mohammed Amir proved that he still has the skills to be a wicket-taking bowler, picking three wickets for his team early on. Mohammed Sami also managed to pick up two wickets – but it was too late for the boys in green.

In the end, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni hit the winning four to seal the team’s victory against the rivals.

Earlier, Hardik Pandya bagged a three-wicket haul as India bundled out Pakistan for a mere 83 runs in

Pandya returned figures of 3/8 while fellow pacers Ashish Nehra (1/20) and Jasprit Bumrah (1/8) also made good use of the uneven bounce on a greenish wicket.

Ravindra Jadeja (2/11) also bowled well.

Sarfraz Ahmad was the top scorer for Pakistan with 25. Only two Pakistan batsmen managed to post double figures.