- Scorecard is available here
Dubai, 28 September 2025: All-round India eked out a five-wicket triumph in the ACC Men’s T20 Asia Cup final with two balls to spare as they chased the 147-run target here at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday night.
Pakistan finished runners-up for the fourth time in the history of the tournament and second time in the T20I iteration of the continental event.
Tournament winners rode on Kuldeep Yadav’s four-wicket haul and no.4 batter Tilak Varma’s unbeaten half-century to bag the victory.
In defence of the total, Pakistan struck thrice within first four overs as Faheem Ashraf accounted for opening duo of Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill, while Shaheen Shah Afridi removed Suryakumar Yadav to reduce India to 20-3.
Tilak then stitched a 50-ball 57-run fourth-wicket stand with Sanju Samson (24, 21b, 2x4s, 1x6) as India went from 36-3 at the end of the Powerplay to 58-3 at the halfway mark.
Abrar Ahmed removed Samson in the 13th over to break the partnership as Shivam Dube walked in to bat with India requiring 70 off 46 balls, which then became 64 off 36 balls.
Apart from Shaheen’s six-run 17th over, India collected 50 runs from the last 28 balls as Tilak and Dube added 60 runs for the fifth wicket off 40 balls. With 17 runs to defend off the last two overs, Faheem dismissed Dube and gave just seven runs leaving Haris Rauf to defend 10 off the last over.
Faheem ended with 3-29 in his four overs, while Shaheen and Abrar had one wicket each to their name.
Earlier, Sahibzada Farhan and Fakhar Zaman put on an 84-run stand – Pakistan’s second highest opening partnership against India in T20Is besides the unbeaten 152 between Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman at the same venue in 2021.
Sahibzada struck his fifth T20I half-century and second against India off 35 balls before falling in the 10th over as Pakistan collected 87 runs in the first half. Fakhar contributed 46 off 35 hitting two fours and as many sixes before falling in the 15th over with scorecard reading 126-4.
Kuldeep struck thrice in the 17th over as Pakistan were restricted to 146 all out in 19.1 overs. Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy and Jasprit Bumrah picked up two wickets each.
Scores in brief:
Final - India beat Pakistan by five wickets at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium
Pakistan 146 all out, 19.1 overs (Sahibzada Farhan 57, Fakhar Zaman 46; Kuldeep Yadav 4-30, Jasprit Bumrah 2-25, Axar Patel 2-26, Varun Chakravarthy 2-30)
India 150-5, 19.4 overs (Tilak Varma 69 not out, Shivam Dube 33, Sanju Samson 24; Faheem Ashraf 3-29)
Player of the match – Tilak Varma (India)
Player of the tournament – Abhishek Sharma (India)
