Fortunes ebbed and flowed, scripts flipped, a section of the lights went out and dimmed the famed Ring of Fire at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, but India stood firm amidst the chaos to beat Pakistan by five wickets on Sunday and lift the Asia Cup for a record-extending ninth time.
With 17 runs needed off 12 balls, Faheem Ashraf pulled out of his run-up twice before being treated for cramps. When he finally started the over, he dug the ball short, and Shivam Dube and Tilak Varma collected three singles off the first three balls. Dube eventually had enough and stepped across his stumps to hammer a four to the long-on boundary. The equation came down to 10 runs off eight balls, and it was right up India’s alley, until Dube picked long-off.
The contest was thrown into jeopardy again. Ten runs were needed off the last over, with Rinku Singh walking in. Tilak, who had dug India out of a hole, released the pressure with a six over deep square-leg. He took a single next ball. Rinku was facing his first ball of the tournament, and he found the long-on fence to make it the last of the competition.
As an animated Tilak ran towards his teammates to celebrate, it spoke of the pressure he was under earlier. India has lost three wickets for 20 runs. The law of averages had caught up with Abhishek Sharma, who fell for five, and skipper Suryakumar Yadav and Shubman Gill followed suit. The three of them had perished trying to have a go at the slower deliveries on a pitch that had become sluggish.
Tilak and Sanju Samson inherited an uphill task and went about it with the solemnity of undertakers. They put on 57 runs off 50 balls, playing the spinners off the back foot, and not premeditating their shots and getting into position early.
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Samson was dropped on 12 by Hussain Talat off leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed, who had the last laugh when Samson got a thick edge behind point trying to slash his leg-break.
Dube and Tilak’s 60-run stand in 40 deliveries ensured India kept it together. Captain Salman Agha turned to his pacers to break the stand, despite off-spinner Saim Ayub having an over left in his spell. The 15th over, bowled by Haris Rauf, was the turning point. Dube and Tilak got stuck into his variations, smashing him four two fours and a six, which got the asking rate down from 10.66 to 9.4.
India was under the pump in the first 10 overs of both innings. Kuldeep Yadav, often the crisis man, was taken for 23 runs in his first two overs, with Sahibzada Farhan pulling him for a six in his first over, and Fakhar Zaman slog-sweeping him for another maximum in his next. Pakistan was cruising at 84 for no loss in the 10th over, and Farhan had reached a 35-ball fifty. It appeared Suryakumar didn’t know who to turn to.
After being hit for a six off the previous delivery, Varun Chakaravarthy provided the breakthrough as Farhan dragged a shortish delivery to deep midwicket. From there, Pakistan lost nine wickets for 33 runs. India turned the tide, and Pakistan’s fragile middle-order lived up to its reputation.
India’s Kuldeep Yadav picked four wickets for 30 runs to help accelerate Pakistan’s collapse in the first innings.
| Photo Credit:
AFP
India’s Kuldeep Yadav picked four wickets for 30 runs to help accelerate Pakistan’s collapse in the first innings.
| Photo Credit:
AFP
Just when Zaman and Saim Ayub were putting on a good show and consolidating a bright start, the latter cut Kuldeep straight to Jasprit Bumrah at point. Varun and Axar Patel accounted for Mohammad Haris, Zaman and Hussain Talat in the space of the next 17 runs.
Kuldeep’s triple strike in the 17th over had Pakistan on the mat. Kuldeep first got the ball to turn late into skipper Salman, who stepped out looking to launch the ball over long-on, but was cramped and skied so high that wicketkeeper Samson could run in and dive full-stretch in front at short midwicket to complete the catch. Shaheen Afridi and Ashraf were back in the hut in the same over, and Pakistan’s persistent issues against spin-bowling came back to haunt them.
After another off day in the PowerPlay, Bumrah lapped up the tail, rattling Rauf’s stumps with a yorker and getting Mohammad Nawaz with a bouncer as Pakistan folded for 146, which challenged the Indians, but wasn’t enough.
Published on Sep 29, 2025
