India beat Pakistan by five wickets with two balls remaining in the Asia Cup final at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
Pakistan collapsed from 113-1 to 146 all out as India retained their title.
Put into bat, Pakistan fumbled a great start and lost its last nine wickets for 33 runs in 39 deliveries.
Sahibzada Farhan (57 runs in 38 balls) and Fakhar Zaman (46 in 35) had given Pakistan a solid start at 84-0 but No. 3 Saim Ayub (14) was the only other Pakistan batter to reach double figures. Farhan hit five fours and three sixes.
Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav took 4-30 in four overs. Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy and Axar Patel claimed two wickets each.
Bumrah claimed the last wicket as Pakistan’s innings ended in 19.1 overs.
Pakistan had enjoyed the powerplay – scoring 45 without loss – and was 87-1 at the halfway point.
Pakistan’s Shaheen Shah Afridi (left) and teammate Haris Rauf celebrate the wicket of India’s Shubman Gill.
Farhan reached his 50 off 35 balls – his second of the tournament and also against India. Chakravarthy got the breakthrough as Farhan was caught in the deep in the 10th over. Even so, Pakistan was past 100 in 11.2 overs and looked set for a good score.
Yadav started the fightback in his second spell of two overs – sending back Ayub in the 13th over.
Yadav took three wickets in the 17th over, breaking the back of Pakistan’s innings. He dismissed Salman Agha (8), Shaheen Afridi (0) and Faheem Ashraf (0) as the lower-middle order wilted under pressure. The turning point had come when Zaman was out caught in the 15th over against Chakravarthy .
India made terrible start to its innings, dropping to 20-3 after four overs, including the prized wicket of Abhishek Sharma.
Tilak Varma scored a nerveless 69 not out for India off 53 balls, including a crucial six against Haris Rauf in the 20th and last over. Rinku Singh hit the winning runs with a four.
It was India’s second T20 Asia Cup victory after 2016, and ninth overall since 1984, across formats.
This was the first India-Pakistan final in Asia Cup history, which started in 1984. The two sides had already met twice earlier in this tournament – in group play and Super Four – with India winning both comfortably.
India’s cricketers refused to shake hands with Pakistan after both those games and there were no handshakes at Sunday’s toss.
