Arch-rivals India and Pakistan met in the Asia Cup Finals. India managed to maintain the same result of beating Pakistan throughout in the tournament. Also, India remained unbeaten through-out in the tournament.
On Sunday, India Vs Pakistan match in the Asia Cup finals match played in Dubai was a thriller. After winning the toss, India elected to field first. Pakistan, unlike the previous matches against India, got off to a good start with openers batting superbly. Pakistani opening batsmen Sahibzada Farhan and Fakhar Zaman were the top scorers with 57 runs and 46 runs respectively. Following batsmen were not impressive at all. Except Saim Ayub (14 runs), no other Pakistani player reached double figures while batting.
Pakistan team were all out for 146 in 19.1 overs. Though the first wicket partnership of 84 runs was a strong base for a good score, the team bundled out for just 146 runs. wickets fell regularly as the Pakistani batsmen could not sustain the start they got off from the openers.
Kuldeep Yadav was the most successful bowler in the Asia Cup final match with 4 wickets. Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, Axar Patel claimed 2 wickets each.
Though India had a shaky start while chasing 147 runs, Tilak Varma guided the Indian innings sensibly to victory. Abhishek Sharma who had a wonderful tournament so far, failed to deliver the same kind of form in the finals. Sanju Samson (24 runs) and Shivam Dube (33 runs) helped India to chase the victory in the final over of the match. India reached the target with a boundary in 19.4 overs by losing 5 wickets.
Pakistani bowler Faheem Ashraf claimed 3 wickets, which made India feel tense for some time. But Tilak Varma stood strong and claimed straight 9th time victory in the Asia Cup finals.
The actual drama started after India clinching the title. Indian team refused to take trophy from Asian Cricket Council (ACC) president Mohsin Naqvi who happened to be one of the Pakistani prominent political leader. Indian players posed for the photographs at the podium without the Asia Cup Trophy.