India Beat Pakistan By 5 Wickets To Win Asia Cup

Dubai- Tilak Varma, the sinewy left-hander from the city of Nizams, produced a heady cocktail of chutzpah and discretion to guide India to their ninth Asia Cup title, following a five-wicket win over arch-rivals Pakistan in a thrilling final here on Sunday.

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

Having slumped to 20 for three inside first five overs, Tilak (69 not out 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 stands on a boiling point and fans engaging in fisticuffs.

If Kuldeep Yadav (17 wickets in 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 60 runs with Dube to continue India's supremacy against Pakistan across white ball formats in the past few 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 and Tilak hitting a ramrod straight drive before a pick-up pull behind square increased the pacer's woes. So much so head coach Mike Hesson was agitated that he was bowling the wrong line.

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