India won the toss and opted to bowl first at the Dubai International Stadium. Captain Suryakumar Yadav said that he believed the pitch would play well for all 40 overs. There were no handshakes between the captains again but interestingly, Pakistan boycotted India’s Ravi Shastri and Salman Ali Agha gave his quotes to compatriot broadcaster, Waqar Younis. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Pakistan started the innings brilliantly, with an 84-run opening stand. Sahibzada Farhan hit another half-century but this time, didn’t celebrate with a gun-fire gesture, or anything controversial, choosing to simply raise his bat.
(AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Varun Chakaravarthy got rid of Farhan in the 10th over. 84/1 became 113/2 as Saim Ayub’s Asia Cup ended with an average of less than six, thanks to Kuldeep Yadav’s timely strike. It triggered a huge collapse for Pakistan.
(AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
The Men in Green lost nine wickets for only 33 runs, with Kuldeep picking three more wickets, and Chakaravarthy and Axar also ending with two wickets each for the match.
(AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
There was a bit of a controversy in the 16th over when Suryakumar Yadav appealed for an obstruction of field against his opposite number, Salman Agha. The third umpires checked and cleared it, but Wasim Akram was not happy, criticizing the Indian skipper for not showing sportsman spirit.
(AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Jasprit Bumrah capped the innings with two wickets. The first was a brilliant clean-bowled of Haris Rauf, who couldn’t keep out a yorker and ended up seeing Bumrah taunt him with a plane-crash celebration. At one stage, they looked primed for a 180-plus finish but ended with 146/10.
(AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
India got into early trouble in the second innings. The target was small, but the ball swung early on, and Pakistan came prepared to counter their aggression. Faheem Ashraf used brilliant slower ones to get rid of both Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill. Suryakumar Yadav was also dismissed by Shaheen Afridi for 1 (5).
(AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Sanju Samson and Tilak Varma steadied the ship through the last over of the powerplay and beyond, with a partnership of 57 runs. Samson was slightly lucky and was dropped by Fakhar Zaman and eventually got out for 20.
(AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
An equally important partnership was the next one, as Tilak was joined by Shivam Dube. Tilak was full of precision, picking his moments for the big hits, while Dube was more brutal, hitting 33 off 22 balls. Together, they took the game deep and India needed 17 runs off the last two overs.
(AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Faheem Ashraf picked up a minor injury but decided to bowl anyway. He conceded seven runs and took the big wicket of Dube on the last ball. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Tilak took on Haris Rauf in the last over, picking two runs off the first ball and killing the game with a huge six on the second. He leveled the score with a single on the third ball, concluding the best innings of his life, 69 off 53 balls, before Rinku Singh finished things off with a boundary.
(Photo by Sajjad HUSSAIN / AFP)
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