Tilak Varma has held his nerve with an unbeaten innings of 69 runs as he has steered India home in a five-wicket win over Pakistan in a gripping and controversial final of the Asia Cup 2025 in Dubai.
Coming in to bat with India two wickets down for 10 runs in the third over, Varma weathered the storm while wickets fell at the other end as India chased 147 in the politically charged tournament decider on Sunday, after which the champions refused to accept the winner’s trophy from Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi.
It was the third India vs Pakistan match of the tournament and once again, the fixture was marred by controversy as the post-match presentation was delayed by more than an hour due to unexplained reasons as players and tournament organisers waited on the ground.
Once the ceremony got under way, it was revealed by presenter Simon Doull that the Indian cricket team had refused to attend it and would not collect their medals or the Asia Cup trophy, ostensibly from Naqvi, who is also chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board and Pakistan’s interior minister.
“Indian team refuses to accept Asia Cup winners’ trophy from Pakistan minister and ACC head Mohsin Naqvi,” the Press Trust of India reported after the ceremony concluded.
However, India’s player of the final Varma, top batter Abhishek Sharma and bowler Kuldeep Yadav did walk up to the presentation area to collect their cheques, albeit not from Naqvi.
Minutes later, India captain Suryakumar Yadav and his teammates cheered with a mock trophy as they celebrated their ninth Asia Cup title.
India’s win was built around their 22-year-old batter Varma’s measured innings, which came off 53 balls and included four sixes and three fours.
The run chase was dented in the second over when their star batter and the tournament’s leading run scorer, Abhishek, was dismissed for five runs by Pakistan’s medium-pace bowler Faheem Ashraf on the first ball of India’s second over. He fell to a mistimed attempt at a six and was caught at mid-on.
Suryakumar followed soon after when Shaheen Shah Afridi dismissed him for one run as the Indian captain hit his fifth ball straight to mid-off, where his Pakistani counterpart, Salman Agha, took a diving catch.
It was then up to Varma and opener Gill to steady the ship for India, but Gill departed nine balls later to Ashraf. Wicketkeeper Sanju Samson chipped in with an innings of 24 off 21 before falling to leg-spin bowler Abrar Ahmed.
New batter Shivam Dube, who had earlier taken on the responsibility of opening the bowling for India in the absence of Hardik Pandya, played a supporting role to Varma’s innings.
While Pakistan bowled well, they were not fully supported by the fielders as two catches were dropped and a crucial run-out chance was missed by wicketkeeper Mohammad Haris, who was slow to remove the bails as Varma dived in.
Varma made Pakistan pay as he and Dube took India on the verge of victory, only for Dube to fall with six balls and nine runs left.
Rinku Singh, who replaced Pandya in the final, faced one ball and hit the winning runs off it to spark celebrations in the Indian camp.
Earlier, Pakistan began their innings brightly as Sahibzada Farhan and Fakhar Zaman gave them an opening stand of 84 before Farhan was dismissed for 57 off 38 in the 10th over.
Zaman (46 off 35) then formed a brief partnership with Saim Ayub, who scored 14 runs, but once they were dismissed, none of the Pakistan batters could post more than nine runs.
The team in green crashed from 113-2 to 146 all out in 38 balls as they finished their innings in 19.1 overs.
Yadav was the pick of the bowlers for India as he picked up four wickets for 30 runs in his four overs. Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakravarthy took a wicket apiece.
Yadav ended the tournament as its leading wicket-taker with 17 while Sharma was the top batter with 314 runs.
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