A stirring display of skill and composure saw India edge past Pakistan by five wickets in the 2025 Asia Cup final on Sunday, with Tilak Varma’s gritty half-century and Kuldeep Yadav’s four-wicket haul guiding the men in blue to a ninth continental crown.
Chasing 147, India got off to a rocky start, reduced to 20/3 by the end of four overs as openers Abishek Sharma, Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav fell cheaply to Pakistani pacers Faheem Ashraf and Shaheen Afridi.
Tilak Varma and wicketkeeper Sanju Samson steadied the innings, stitching together a cautious 50-run partnership off 43 balls as the Pakistan attack allowed little room to score. With the run flow slow, Samson went on the attack but was caught off Abrar Ahmed while mistiming a big shot, leaving India at 77/4 in the 13th over.
Tilak was joined by all-rounder Shivam Dube, and the duo continued the chase. Tilak played the anchor, keeping the scoreboard ticking to reach a half-century off 41 balls, while Dube attacked the bowlers, striking over 150 with big hits to edge closer to the target.
Dube was dismissed for 33 off 22 balls on the final delivery of the penultimate over, attempting to clear the boundary but caught at long-off, leaving India 10 to win from the last over.
Tilak, along with Rinku Singh, carried India past the line with two balls to spare, Varma remaining unbeaten on 69.
Put to bat first, Pakistan were bowled out for 146 in 19.1 overs as spinner Kuldeep Yadav tore through their batting line-up.
Pakistan began strongly, reaching 45 without loss at the end of the powerplay. Openers Sahibzada Farhan and Fakhar Zaman attacked the Indian bowlers before settling into a controlled partnership.
The duo brought up a 50-run stand in the seventh over, with Farhan accelerating to his half-century in the ninth over. Zaman provided steady support as the partnership extended to 87 before Farhan fell to Varun Chakravarthy for 57 off 38 balls in the 10th over.
After the strong start, Pakistan’s innings unraveled under sustained pressure from India’s bowlers. Kuldeep, Varun Chakravarthy and Axar Patel picked wickets at regular intervals, restricting the total to 146 in 19.1 overs.
Kuldeep finished with four wickets for 30 runs in his four overs, while Axar, Varun and pacer Jasprit Bumrah claimed two wickets each.
India made three changes, with Rinku Singh and Shivam Dube replacing Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh. Hardik Pandya was ruled out with a niggle. Pakistan named an unchanged XI.
Ravi Shastri and Waqar Younis conducted the toss interviews with the India and Pakistan captains separately after PCB's request to Asian Cricket Council to keep a neutral presenter for the title clash.
Notably, India had beaten Pakistan in both the group-stage and Super Four matches earlier in the tournament.
Teams:
India: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy.
Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha (c), Hussain Talat, Mohammad Haris (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed.