India beat Pakistan in the final by five wickets to win their second Asia Cup T20 title and overall ninth in the biennial continental tournament. It was the tournament that began with a lot of noise and action off the field but India kept their calm to go unbeaten through the competition to win it.

Tilak Varma kept his calm and composure to take India home to a nervy win in the Asia Cup 2025 final at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday, September 28, ably supported by Shivam Dube at the death. It was probably the most tense finish of the tournament, given the stakes of being a final and the bowlers of both teams bowled out of their skins not to let each other's batters off the hook. However, with the batting depth they had and the target being below 150, India were always ahead of the game despite losing three in the powerplay.

It wasn't the easiest of wickets to start scoring runs from the onset and hence, the only two batters who got past fifty in the summit clash - Sahibzada Farhan and Tilak - took a few balls to get their eye in and then got going and the latter did it decisively, stitching crucial partnerships with Sanju Samson first and then Dube.

The two overs bowled by Haris Rauf were critical in India's run chase, first the 15th over, which ideally should have been bowled by Abrar Ahmed, and Tilak and Dube scored 17 runs off that over. Then the next was the 18th, which was almost flawless from the Pakistan pacer until the final ball, which was a full toss and Dube smoked it over deep mid-wicket to hit a very important six.

In the very next over, Dube hit an important boundary off Faheem Ashraf, but couldn't finish off the job as the latter picked his third wicket of the match. However, Tilak, having already played a gem, saved the best for his last, hitting a six off the second delivery of the final over, bowled by Rauf, to seal the deal before Rinku Singh did the formality.

The two partnerships were very different, one 57 off 50 and the other 60 off 40 as all three batters had to understand the tempo and both stands played their part in getting India over the line.

Suryakumar Yadav's poor form continued and Shubman Gill too disappointed again before Tilak, Samson and Dube got their team home.

Earlier, it was the trio of Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy and Jasprit Bumrah, who brought Pakistan to their knees as they went from 113/1 to 146 all-out. Kuldeep finished with 17 wickets for the tournament, the joint-highest for any bowler in an Asia Cup edition, as he took yet another four-fer in the final.

The collapse was triggered by Chakravarthy, who sent back both the Pakistan openers, who had stitched an opening partnership of 84, but once the spinners got into their game, it was tata-goodbye for the Pakistan batters.

This is the second Asia Cup T20 title for India in three editions and overall ninth trophy in the continental tournament, winning seven in the ODI version of the competition.