By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
India has won cricket’s Asia Cup for the ninth time with a five-wicket victory over archrival Pakistan in Sunday’s final in Dubai with only two balls remaining.
This marked the first India-Pakistan final in Asia Cup history, which began in 1984. The two sides had already met twice earlier in the tournament — in the group stage and Super Four — with India winning both encounters comfortably.
Made to bat first, Pakistan started superbly, with Sahibzada Farhan (57) and Fakhar Zaman (46) putting together an impressive opening stand of 84.
They rallied to 113-1 with 44 balls left in the innings, but the collapse that followed would be dramatic and prove pivotal to the outcome.
With the help of left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav (4-30) and some poor shots, India took the remaining nine wickets for just 33 runs as a shellshocked Pakistan were bundled out for 146 with five deliveries still left in their innings.
India themselves started badly in their reply and lost three wickets in the opening three overs to give Pakistan hope.
But Tilak Varma calmed things down with a fine unbeaten 69, while Shivam Dube (33) and Sanju Samson (24) provided much-needed support as they triumphed with just two balls left.
Test captain Shubman Gill said afterwards: “It’s been incredible to stay unbeaten in the tournament. When things got tough, we knew we had to take the game as deep as possible.”
Victory for India consolidated their standing as Asia’s premier side with their trophy tally in the competition now at nine, and Sri Lanka closest with six, while Pakistan have two.
The Asia Cup was widely seen as a dress rehearsal for the T20 World Cup to be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka in February-March of next year.