Tilak Varma The Hero As India Beat Pakistan In Thriller To Clinch Asia Cup 2025

Tilak Varma saved his best for the last and played the innings of his career so far to take India to a thrilling win over Pakistan in the final of the Asia Cup 2025 on Sunday. Riding on Tilak Varma's incredible 69*, a fancied India beat Pakistan by five wickets in the summit showdown to win their second Asia Cup title in the T20 format. India bowled out Pakistan for a modest 146 and then chased down the target of 147 with two balls remaining. Varma smashed an unbeaten 69 off 53 balls, while Shivam Dube contributed a breezy 33 off 22 balls during a vital 60-run partnership for the fifth wicket.

Needing 10 off the last over, Tilak deposited the controversial Haris Rauf into the mid-wicket stands before Rinku Singh - getting his first hit of the tournament - sent the Indian fans into delirium with the winning boundary.

Having slumped to 20 for three inside the first five overs, Tilak (69* off 53 balls) was composed and audacious in equal measure, with Sanju Samson (24) and Shivam Dube (33 off 21 balls) proving to be brilliant support casts as India chased down 147 in 19.4 overs.

The tension was immense due to off-field events leading up to the final, but this Indian team, led by Suryakumar Yadav and guided by Gautam Gambhir, walked the talk when it came to upping the fearlessness quotient in a pressure-cooker scenario - with the stands at boiling point and fans engaging in fisticuffs.

If Kuldeep Yadav (17 wickets in the tournament) wreaked havoc that saw Pakistan lose their last nine wickets for a mere 33 runs, Tilak displayed unusual calm after the team suffered its first top-order collapse.

He added 57 with Samson and another 64 with Dube to continue India's supremacy against Pakistan across white-ball formats in recent years.

The decisive point in the game was the 15th over, bowled by Haris Rauf (0/50 in 3.4 overs), which yielded as many as 17 runs.

It started with Dube slapping Rauf through the covers, Tilak hitting a ramrod-straight drive, and then a pick-up pull behind square that increased the pacer's woes. So much so, head coach Mike Hesson was visibly agitated, suggesting Rauf was bowling the wrong line.

Rauf, one of the key reasons behind the escalating tensions between the two teams, was pulled into the mid-wicket stands by Dube with 17 needed off the last two overs.

The 'Law of Averages' was supposed to catch up with Abhishek Sharma (5) sooner or later, and Pakistan's new-ball bowlers - Shaheen Shah Afridi and Faheem Ashraf - were clever enough to bowl plenty of slower deliveries.

Abhishek, who likes to hit through the line and on the rise, struggled to connect and lobbed one to mid-on. Suryakumar Yadav (1) and Shubman Gill (12) also perished trying to play the slower balls early, as India were left tottering at 20 for three.

Samson (24 off 21 balls) got into the groove with a cover drive off Shaheen, while Tilak whipped a Faheem delivery outside leg stump into the deep fine-leg stand.

When Abrar Ahmed came into the attack, Tilak slog-swept him over cow corner for a maximum as the duo added 50 runs for the fourth wicket.

However, just as he was gaining confidence - having hit Saim Ayub for a six - Samson was out trying to hit Abrar against the turn.

Earlier, a majestic Kuldeep, in the company of a wily Varun Chakravarthy and a parsimonious Axar Patel, literally ran through an inept Pakistan batting line-up, skittling out the arch-rivals for a below-par 146 in 19.1 overs after opting to field.

Hamstrung by Hardik Pandya's absence and pushed back briefly by a solid opening stand of 84 between Sahibzada Farhan (57 off 38 balls) and Fakhar Zaman (46 off 35 balls), the Indian spin troika of Kuldeep (4/30 in 4 overs), Axar (2/26 in 4), and Chakravarthy (2/30 in 4) literally choked Pakistan in the back 10 overs to bring India right back into the match.

From 113 for one - when Fakhar and Saim Ayub were batting - wickets fell like ninepins once Kuldeep got rid of the latter. India took the remaining nine wickets for just 33 runs to seize the upper hand halfway into the final.

To rub it in, Jasprit Bumrah (2/25 in 3.1 overs), who had been having an off day, yorked Haris Rauf and then made a half-gesture of a crashing plane in a send-off that reminded many of the Pakistani pacer's controversial celebration toward Indian fans in the previous game.

So what changed between the front and back 10 overs? It was the lines the Indian spinners bowled to the Pakistani batters, coupled with smart use of pace-off deliveries.

All the spinners began bowling slightly slower deliveries outside the batters' hitting arc - and that did the trick. Salman Ali Agha and Hussain Talat once again tried to hit their way out of trouble and failed miserably.

With PTI inputs

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Pakistan Cricket Team Suryakumar Yadav Agha Salman Asia Cup 2025 Cricket India vs Pakistan, Final