India claimed their ninth Asia Cup crown in Dubai, defeating Pakistan by five wickets in a tense final. Chasing 146, India stumbled to 20 for 3, but Tilak Varma’s calm 69* turned the tide, steering his side to victory alongside Shivam Dube’s crucial cameo.
Pakistan’s Collapse After Strong Start
Sahibzada Farhan and Fakhar Zaman gave Pakistan hope with fluent knocks, putting pressure on India’s bowlers early on. However, once Varun Chakravarthy dismissed both, the collapse began.
“𝑭𝒓𝒐𝒎 107 𝒇𝒐𝒓 1 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒇𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒇𝒕—𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝑷𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏’𝒔 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍,” 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒚𝒔𝒕.
Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel capitalized on the momentum, bowling Pakistan out for 146.
Tilak and Dube Seal the Chase
Tilak absorbed the pressure while others fell around him. His ability to rotate strike and pick the right moments to attack kept India in the hunt. Dube added 33 off 22, striking two crucial sixes in the closing overs.
“𝑪𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒓 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓. 𝑻𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒌 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔,” 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒅.
In the end, Tilak’s six off Haris Rauf sealed the win, sparking emotional celebrations as India lifted their ninth Asia Cup trophy.
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