India defeated Pakistan by five wickets for a record-extending 9th Asia Cup title on Sunday (28), but skipped the trophy presentation in a tournament without handshakes between the two rivals.
India finished unbeaten to retain the Asia Cup title – they won the last edition in the 50-over format – but Suryakumar Yadav’s team did not collect the trophy in Dubai.
The presentation ceremony took more than an hour to get going with media reports saying India did not want to get the trophy from Pakistan Cricket Board Chief and Asian Cricket Council Head Mohsin Naqvi.
Chasing 147 for victory, India depended on Tilak Varma’s unbeaten 69 to reach their target with two balls to spare in a tense chase.
Varma put on a key stand, including a 60-run 5 th-wicket partnership with Shivam Dube, who got out for 33 at the end of the 19th over.
Needing 10 off the last over, Varma struck a six and Rinku Singh hit the winning boundary as the pair ran off to celebrate with their team, leaving Pakistan to shake hands among themselves.
Kuldeep Yadav set up India’s third victory over their rivals in the regional tournament played under the T20 format as his figures of 4-30 helped bowl out Pakistan for 146.
Kuldeep ended the tournament as the leading bowler with 17 wickets. Indian opener Abhishek Sharma won the player of the tournament with 314 runs, including three fifties at a strike-rate of 200.
India were in trouble at 3-20 and 4-77, but Varma kept calm to anchor the chase as he hit three fours and four sixes in his knock.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson’s 24 and then a supporting knock by Dube took India home at a nearly packed stadium dominated by Indian fans.
The two neighbours came into the title clash with tensions high from their previous two clashes in the competition, which witnessed political posturing and aggressive on-field behaviour.
India pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah raised the heat in the first innings on Sunday when he bowled Haris Rauf for six and made a gesture similar to the one the Pakistan bowler had done to the crowd in the previous meeting between the two teams.
Put in to bat after no handshakes at the toss, Pakistan started strongly as openers Sahibzada Farhan, who made 57, and Fakhar Zaman, who made 46, put on 84 runs but the team slipped from 113-1 to be bowled out in 19.1 overs.
After Farhan fell, Zaman took charge and along with Saim Ayub kept up the attack with regular boundaries until Kuldeep struck in the 13th over.
Ayub fell to Kuldeep’s left-arm wrist spin as Pakistan lost six wickets for 21 runs.
Zaman fell short of his fifty and Kuldeep struck with three wickets in the 17th over, including Agha for eight.
India and Pakistan met earlier in the competition for the first time after deadly fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours, who have not played a bilateral series in over a decade.
The two only meet in multi-nation tournaments at neutral venues as part of a compromise deal.
India comfortably won their earlier two matches, but in the Super Four clash Farhan mimicked a gun celebration after his half-century.
Rauf made gestures appearing to mock India’s military action during the four-day border conflict in May that left more than 70 people dead.
In the group match, India skipper Suryakumar had refused to shake hands with Pakistan counterpart Agha and the two teams kept up the stance for the rest of the tournament.
Brief scores:
Pakistan 146 all out in 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 wickets in 19.4 overs
(Tilak Varma 69 not out, Shivam Dube 33, Sanju Samson 24, Faheem Ashraf 3/29)
(Agencies)