Head coach Gautam Gambhir was pumped up after Tilak Varma walloped Haris Rauf for an 80-metre maximum in the final over of the Asia Cup 2025 final between
India and Pakistan at the Dubai International Stadium. Tilak's brilliant 53-ball 69 led India to their ninth Asia Cup title in fine style.
The left-handed batter picked up the slower ball from Rauf with seamless ease, swatting it over the deep square leg fence. Gambhir could not control his emotions and banged the table repeatedly with his hands as India inched close to the finish line. That maximum brought the equation down to two off four. The Men in Blue went past the target as Rinku Singh smashed a boundary off the first ball he faced to seal the deal.
Meanwhile. Tilak's calculated innings stood out on the all-important night. His knock comprised three fours and four sixes and some impressive running between the wickets in Dubai's heat. His most productive shot was the pull. Coming in to bat midway through the third over of the run-chase, he stayed right till the end despite wickets falling around him.
Coming to the game, Indiawon the toss and opted to field first. Pakistan started off well, putting up 84 for the first wicket as Sahibzada Farhan (57 off 38) laid the perfect foundation. However, it was all India from that point as Pakistan could not even survive their 20-over quota. Kuldeep Yadav (4/30 in 4 overs) starred with the ball and he was well supported by his spin partners Varun Chakravarthy and Axar Patel, who took two wickets each.
Coming out to chase, the Men in Blue scored only 36 in powerplay and lost their top three batters to put themselves in a spot of bother. Sanju Samson (24 off 21) stuck around with Tilak to stabilise the innings, while Shivam Dube (33 off 22) played a crucial part after Samson's dismissal. While the rest of the Pakistani bowlers did quite a decent job, Haris Rauf proved to be the most expensive of the lot, as he conceded 50 runs in 3.4 overs.
