Why Pakistan Failed To Challenge India Again In Asia Cup Final Khaleej Times

In what was a battle of nerves, Pakistan put up their best fight of the tournament. But India still had enough in their tank to quell the threat and clinch the Asia Cup crown.

The five-wicket win - achieved on the back of Tilak Varma's sublime 69 not out off 53 balls (3 fours, 4 sixes) and Kuldeep Yadav's brilliant 4-30 - in a thrilling final at a packed Dubai International Stadium was India's third straight win over their arch-rivals in the tournament.

But Pakistan seriously threatened to take the game away when India, chasing 147, were reduced to 20 for three in the fourth over.

It was their first top-order collapse in the tournament as the impressive Faheem Ashraf (4-0-29-3) dismissed Abhishek Sharma (5) and Shubman Gill (12) before Shaheen Shah Afridi (4-0-20-1) removed the out-of-form skipper Suryakumar Yadav (1).

Varma, a fearless shot-maker, then steadied the ship with Sanju Samson (24 off 21 balls), adding 57 runs for the fourth wicket.

Samson had a chance to be a hero, but the Kerala wicketkeeper-batter fell to spinner Abrar Ahmed's guile in the 13th over with India still needing 70 runs off 44 balls.

Batting all-rounder Shubham Dube (33 off 22 balls), who would not have featured in the playing eleven had Hardik Pandya been declared fit, held his nerve and produced a magnificent cameo.

Dube became Ashraf's third victim after the left-hander took India to the brink of victory in the penultimate over.

With 10 needed off the last six balls, Varma finished the game as a contest with his fourth six of the innings on the second ball of the final over by hitting Haris Rauf over the deep square leg boundary.

Rinku Singh then hit the winning shot, a boundary off his first ball, to take India home with two balls to spare, but the man who won the final was Varma.

The 22-year-old from Hyderabad gave a masterclass in the art of chasing a target in a high-pressure final after his team suffered early blows against an inspired Pakistan team.

Salman Agha's men, so determined to prove a point after losing to India twice in the tournament amid a raging controversy over the Indian team's no-handshake policy, only have themselves to blame after failing yet again against their bitter rivals.

On the eve of the final, Agha spoke about the importance of not making too many errors in the big game.

And yet, his team fluffed their lines again after their openers - Sahibzada Farhan (57 off 38 balls, 5 fours, 3 sixes) and Fakhar Zaman (46 off 35 balls, 2 fours, 2 sixes) - shared a superb 84-run partnership for the first wicket in 9.4 overs.

Even after Farhan fell to Varun Chakravarthy (4-0-30-2), Zaman and Saim Ayub (14 off 11 balls) took the team to 113 for one in 12.4 overs.

Pakistan were on track for a big total only to lose the plot completely as their batting unit suffered another spectacular collapse, losing nine wickets for 33 runs to finish on 146 all out.

The outstanding Kuldeep was well supported by Chakravarthy, Axar Patel (4-0-26-2) and Jasprit Bumrah (3.1-0-25-2).

But it wasn't India's bowling that sparked the collapse. Rather, it was Pakistan's middle-order batters who failed to rise to the challenge again, having struggled for runs in the tournament.

Their bowlers kept them in the game, but a target of 147 was never enough to stop India from clinching their ninth Asia Cup title and winning their eighth consecutive match in white-ball formats against Pakistan since October 2022.

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