Tilak Varma hit an unbeaten 69 after Kuldeep Yadav’s 4/30 as India defeated arch-rivals Pakistan by five wickets to win the Asia Cup title in Dubai on Sunday. India chased down the 147-run target with just two balls to spare with Rinku Singh hitting the winning runs off Haris Rauf for their ninth Asia Cup title.
It boiled down to 17 runs needed off the last 12 balls and Faheem Ashraf pulled up twice in his run-up because of cramps. Tilak Varma and Shivam Dube added 60 runs off 40 balls to take India to brink of victory, till Ashraf had Dube (33) caught by Shaheen Afridi at long-off.
Rinku Singh walked to the crease with 10 needed from the final over – bowled by Haris Rauf. Tilak took a double on the first ball, but the second delivery went sailing over the square leg fence into the crowd to make it 2 needed off the last 4 balls.
Tilak took a single off the third ball and Rinku smashed the only ball he faced in the entire tournament for a four to complete a stunning victory for India.
Tilak reached his 50 off 41 balls and his 50-run stand with Dube came off just 36 balls. Tilak smashed four 6s and three 4s in his knock.
Abhishek Sharma again looked to get India off to a flying start by stepping out to Shaheen Afridi off the first delivery of the run chase but his massive heave missed the ball and the delivery narrowly missed the off-stump. But even after hitting a boundary off Afridi in the first over, Abhishek (5) didn’t learn his lesson as his ultra-aggressive mindset resulted in his dismissal after he mistimed a slower ball from Faheem Ashraf in the next over high up in the air for Haris Rauf to take the catch at mid-on.
India captain Suryakumar Yadav continued his poor run with the bat as he mistimed a slower ball from Afridi to mid-off for his counterpart Salman Agha to take the catch diving forward to fall for 1.
Ashraf struck again in the next over again with a slower delivery as Shubman Gill (12) needlessly charged down and mistimed a hit for Rauf to take his second catch. India finished the powerplay at 36/3 – their lowest in the tournament – with Tilak Varma and Sanju Samson steadying the innings.
Abrar Ahmed broke the 57-run stand between Varma and Samson when he had the latter caught by Sahibzada Farhan at point. Samson departed after scoring 24 runs off 21 balls with two 4s and a six.
Earlier, put into bat, Pakistan got off to a great start with Sahibzada Farhan and Fakhar Zaman putting up a 83-run stand and a 180-190 score loomed large for India to chase down. Farhan again unsettled India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and smashed a fifty, but was dismissed for 57 by Varun Chakaravarthy, who also dismissed Fakhar (46). And then, Pakistan committed hara-kiri. From 113/2, they were bundled out for 146 in 19.1 overs.
The man responsible for Pakistan to lose their way was Kuldeep Yadav who first dismissed Saim Ayub (14) and then returned in the attack to get rid of Pakistan captain Salman Agha, Shaheen Afridi and Faheem Ashraf – all in one over – the last of his spell.
Kuldeep went from conceding 23 runs in his opening two overs to taking 4/7 in his subsequent two overs. The Chinaman bowler returned with figures of 4/30 and was ably aided by other spinners Chakaravarthy and Axar Patel – who took two wickets each.
Kuldeep finished the tournament with 17 wickets equalling the records of Fazalhaq Farooqi (Afghanistan) in T20 WC 2024 and Arshdeep Singh (India) T20 WC 2024 for most wickets in a T20I tournament.
Bumrah also took two wickets and also took a sly dig at Rauf with a dipping flight gesture with a smile after dismantling his wickets with a trademark yorker.
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