Dubai: India flirted with harakiri in the Asia Cup final against Pakistan on Sunday night before squeezing out a 5-wicket victory with 2 balls to spare.
India thus made it 3-0 against arch-rivals Pakistan in Asia Cup 2025.
In doing so, India lifted the Asia Cup for the ninth time, second time in the T20 format besides seven times in ODI format.
Tilak Varma pulled India out of a deep hole and carried the team past the finishing line in a tense and nerve-wracking finish. The left-hander, coming in at No. 4, anchored the chase brilliantly to remain unbeaten on 69 (53 balls, 3×4, 4×6).
Another left-hander Shivam Dube played his part perfectly as well, smashing 33 off 22 balls (2×4, 2×6) and helping Tilak add 60 crucial runs for the fifth wicket. Dube had earlier done a good job with three overs of medium pace – conceding 23 runs – playing as the second pacer in Hardik Pandya’s absence.
Chasing 147 to lift the trophy, India made a horror start, sliding to 20/3 in 4 overs.
Flamboyant opener Abhishek Sharma fell for 5, his first low score of the tournament. Skipper Suryakumar Yadav flopped once again – dismissed for 1 following scores of 5, 12 and 1 in the previous games. And once Shubman Gill was dismissed for 12, Pakistan were right on top.
Tilak and the experienced Sanju Samson (24) steadied the innings, but India were again trouble at 77/4 when the latter was bamboozled by leggie Abrar Ahmed.
Thereafter, it was Tilak all the way, with some assistance from Samson and Dube.
Rinku Singh came in after Dube’s departure and hit the winning boundary.
India’s spinners earlier engineered a spectacular collapse to bowl out Pakistan for 146. From 84/0 and 113/1, Pakistan lost 9 wickets for a mere 33 runs.
Kuldeep Yadav bagged 4/30, including 3 wickets in his final over, Axar Patel scalped 2/26 and Varun Chakravarty 2/30. Jasprit Bumrah (2/25) cleaned up the tail.
BRIEF SCORES
Pakistan 146 all out in 19.1 overs (Sahibzada Farhan 57, Fakhar Zaman 46; Kuldeep Yadav 4/30, Jasprit Bumrah 2/25, Axar Patel 2/26, Varun Chakravarthy 2/30).
India 150/5 in 19.4 overs (Tilak Varma 69 not out, Shivam Dube 33; Faheem Ashraf 3/29).
