Varma hits 69 not out after coming in to bat at 10-2 as India chase 146 in a nervy finish to the Asia Cup 2025 in Dubai.
Tilak Varma has held his nerve with an unbeaten innings of 69 runs as he has steered India house in a five-wicket win over Pakistan in a gripping and controversial closing of the Asia Cup 2025 in Dubai.
Coming in to bat with India two wickets down for 10 runs within the third over, Varma weathered the storm whereas wickets fell on the different finish as India chased 147 within the politically charged event decider on Sunday, after which the champions refused to just accept the winner’s trophy from Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi.
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It was the third India vs Pakistan match of the event and as soon as once more, the fixture was marred by controversy because the post-match presentation was delayed by greater than an hour attributable to unexplained causes as gamers and event organisers waited on the bottom.
As soon as the ceremony received below method, it was revealed by presenter Simon Doull that the Indian cricket workforce had refused to attend it and wouldn’t acquire their medals or the Asia Cup trophy, ostensibly from Naqvi, who can also be chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board and Pakistan’s inside minister.
“Indian workforce refuses to just accept Asia Cup winners’ trophy from Pakistan minister and ACC head Mohsin Naqvi,” the Press Belief of India reported after the ceremony concluded.
Nevertheless, India’s participant of the ultimate Varma, high batter Abhishek Sharma and bowler Kuldeep Yadav did stroll as much as the presentation space to gather 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 constructed round their 22-year-old batter Varma’s measured innings, which got here off 53 balls and included 4 sixes and three fours.
The run chase was dented within the second over when their star batter and the event’s main run scorer, Abhishek, was dismissed for 5 runs by Pakistan’s medium-pace bowler Faheem Ashraf on the primary ball of India’s second over. He fell to a mistimed try at a six and was caught at mid-on.
Suryakumar adopted quickly after when Shaheen Shah Afridi dismissed him for one run because the Indian captain hit his fifth ball straight to mid-off, the place his Pakistani counterpart, Salman Agha, took a diving catch.
It was then as much as Varma and opener Gill to regular the ship for India, however Gill departed 9 balls later to Ashraf. Wicketkeeper Sanju Samson chipped in with an innings of 24 off 21 earlier than falling to leg-spin bowler Abrar Ahmed.
New batter Shivam Dube, who had earlier taken on the duty of opening the bowling for India within the absence of Hardik Pandya, performed a supporting position to Varma’s innings.
Whereas Pakistan bowled properly, they weren’t absolutely supported by the fielders as two catches have been dropped and a vital run-out likelihood was missed by wicketkeeper Mohammad Haris, who was gradual to take away the bails as Varma dived in.
Varma made Pakistan pay as he and Dube took India on the verge of victory, just for Dube to fall with six balls and 9 runs left.
Rinku Singh, who changed Pandya within the closing, confronted one ball and hit the successful runs off it to spark celebrations within the Indian camp.
Earlier, Pakistan started their innings brightly as Sahibzada Farhan and Fakhar Zaman gave them a gap stand of 84 earlier than Farhan was dismissed for 57 off 38 within the tenth over.
Zaman (46 off 35) then fashioned a short partnership with Saim Ayub, who scored 14 runs, however as soon as they have been dismissed, not one of the Pakistan batters may submit greater than 9 runs.
The workforce in inexperienced crashed from 113-2 to 146 all out in 38 balls as they completed their innings in 19.1 overs.
Yadav was the decide of the bowlers for India as he picked up 4 wickets for 30 runs in his 4 overs. Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakravarthy took a wicket apiece.
Yadav ended the event as its main wicket-taker with 17 whereas Sharma was the highest batter with 314 runs.
