India beat Pakistan by five wickets in a thriller of a final to win their ninth Asia Cup title. In a match that went right down to the last over, Tilak Varma finished unbeaten on 69 off 53 balls while Rinku Singh hit the winning runs with a four off the only ball he faced all tournament long. Earlier, Kuldeep Yadav’s four-wicket haul helped India bundle out Pakistan for just 146 runs.
However, India themselves were off to a disastrous start with the bat in their chase and had to abandon their big-hitting ways to stop the early collapse that they suffered. It was Tilak and Sanju Samson who first gave India some stability with the bat. They had lost three wickets in the first three, including the in-form Abhishek Sharma. Samson and Tilak put up a partnership of 57 off 50 balls.
Samson was dismissed by Abrar Ahmed in the 13th over after which Tilak found another steady partner in Shivam Dube, who scored 33 in 22 balls. Dube was dismissed off the last ball of the 19th over, thus bringing Rinku, who had not played any of the previous games in the tournament, into the middle with India needing 10 to win off the last six balls. Tilak was on strike and he ran two off the first ball. Tilak then smashed the second ball over deep square leg for a six after which he took a single to tie the scores. Rinku then hit the fourth ball over mid-on, sparking wild celebrations.
This is the ninth time that India have won the Asia Cup, and the second time that they have won it in its T20I form. It is also their second consecutive title overall, having won the 2023 tournament as well which was played in the ODI format. Sri Lanka are the second most succesfull team of all time, having won the title six times. Pakistan have won it twice.
Pakistan had earlier been put to bat first by Suryakumar Yadav. They got off to a strong start with Fakhar Zaman and Sahibzada Farhan putting up an opening stand of 84 runs. After that, though, No.3 Saim Ayub was the only Pakistan batter to have reached double digits. Pakistan went from being 113-1 to 146 all out in a sensational collapse in the middle overs.
Pakistan had enjoyed the powerplay – scoring 45 without loss — and was 87-1 at the halfway point.Farhan reached his 50 off 35 balls – his second of the tournament and also against India. Chakravarthy got the breakthrough as Farhan was caught in the deep in the 10th over.
Even so, Pakistan was past 100 in 11.2 overs and looked set for a good score.Yadav started the fightback in his second spell of two overs – sending back Ayub in the 13th over.Yadav took three wickets in the 17th over, breaking the back of Pakistan’s innings.
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