Varma hits a 69 as India chased 146 after being hit 10-2 at the nervous edge of Dubai’s Asian Cup 2025.
Tilak Balma was nerve-wracking in an unbeaten inning of 69 runs as he led India home by winning Pakistan by five wickets in the charming and controversial final of the Asian Cup 2025 in Dubai.
With India running their second wicket three times to beat them, Balma survived the storm, and the wicket fell on the other side as India chased 147 people in the politically charged tournament decider on Sunday.
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It was the third India vs Pakistan match of the tournament, and once again, the post-match presentation ceremony was delayed by the controversy as players and tournament organizers were waiting on the ground, and the equipment was damaged by the controversy.
As the ceremony progressed, it was revealed by presenter Simon Dur that the Indian cricket team refused to attend, did not collect the winner’s medals and Asian Cup trophies, and ostensibly the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Committee and Pakistan’s Home Minister Naqvi.
“The Indian team has refused to accept the trophy of the Asian Cup winner from Pakistan’s Minister and ACC Head Mohsin Naqvi,” the Indian Press Trust reported after the ceremony ended.
However, India’s last Balma player, top batter Abhishek Sharma and Bowler Kuldeep Yadav, walked to the presentation area to collect the checks, not from Naqvi.
Minutes later, Indian captain Suryakumaryadav and his teammates cheered with a mock trophy, celebrating their ninth Asian Cup title.
India’s victory was built around the measurement innings of 22-year-old batter Balma.
Run Chase was dented for the second time when star batter and tournament leading runner Abhisheksharma was fired in five runs by Pakistan’s medium-paced bowler Faheem Ashraf on India’s first ball. He fell into the wrong attempt at 6am and was caught in the middle.
Suryakumar Yadav followed immediately before defeating him by one run when the Indian captain hit the fifth ball straight as his Pakistani counterpart Salman Agha won the diving catch.
It then led to Varma and Opener Gill to stabilize the ship for India, but Gill later set out nine balls for Ashraf. Wicketkeeper Sanju Samson chipped in in 21-24 innings before falling to leg spin bowler Abral Ahmed.
New batsman Shivam Dube, who previously held responsible for opening Indian bowling in the absence of Hardik Pandya, played a role in supporting Balma’s innings.
Pakistan bowled well, but they weren’t fully supported by the Fielders as two catches fell and the important run-out chance of Mohammad Haris, who was slow to slow bail when Varma dived in.
Varma let Pakistan pay when he and Dube turned India on victory threat, but Dube only fell with six balls and nine runs.
Link Singh, who replaced Pandya in the final, faced one ball and rang out victory to spark celebrations in Indian camps.
Previously, Pakistan began to brighten up the innings as Sahibzada Fahan and Fakar Zaman gave 84 opening stands.
Zaman (35-46) formed a brief partnership with Saim Ayub, who scored 14 runs, but once rejected, the Pakistani batsman was unable to post more than nine runs.
The Green team crashed from 113-2 to 146 with 38 balls as they finished the innings in 19.1 overs.
Kuldeep Yadav was the pick of the Indian bowler as he picked four wickets with 30 runs in four overs. Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakravarthy each took the ticket gates.
Yadav finished the tournament as a major ticket gate. Taker was 17 years old, while Sharma was the first batter for 314 runs.
