Varma shines as India beat Pakistan to win ninth Asia Cup

India beat Pakistan by five wickets on September 28 at the Dubai International Stadium to claim a ninth Asia Cup title, driven by an unbeaten 69 off 53 balls from Tilak Varma that anchored a tense chase and earned him Player of the Match. India captain Suryakumar Yadav elected to bowl after winning the toss, setting the stage for a contest that swung strongly with the ball before being settled by Varma’s composed batting.

Pakistan’s innings began well as Sahibzada Farhan (57 off 38) and Fakhar Zaman (46 off 35) put on an 84-run opening stand. The visitors were 113 for 1 in the 13th over when their innings unraveled; Pakistan lost nine wickets for 33 runs and were all out for 146 in 19.1 overs. Kuldeep Yadav led India’s bowling attack with four wickets for 30 runs. Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah and Axar Patel took two wickets apiece.

India’s reply stalled early when Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Shubman Gill were dismissed in the powerplay, leaving the side 20 for 3. Varma steadied the innings, first combining with Sanju Samson for a significant fourth-wicket stand and then forging a 60-run partnership with Shivam Dube. Samson made 24 off 21 balls and Dube finished...