India beat Pak by 5 wkts to win Asia Cup

Tilak Varma, the sinewy left-hander from the city of Nizams, produced a heady cocktail of chutzpah and discretion to guide India to their ninth Asia Cup title, following a five-wicket win over arch-rivals Pakistan in a thrilling final here on Sunday.
Needing 10 off the last over, Tilak deposited the controversial trouble monger Haris Rauf into mid-wicket stands before Rinku Singh, getting his first hit of the tournament, sent the Indian fans into delirium with a winning boundary.
Having slumped to 20 for three inside first five overs, Tilak (69 not out off 53 balls) was composed and audacious in equal measure with Sanju Samson (24) and Shivam Dube (33 off 21 balls ) proving to be brilliant support casts as India chased down 147 in 19.4 overs.
If Kuldeep Yadav (17 wickets in tournament) wreaked havoc that saw Pakistan lose their last nine wickets for a mere 33 runs, Tilak displayed unusual calm after the team suffered its first top-order collapse.
He added 57 with Samson and another 64 runs with Dube to continue India’s supremacy against Pakistan across white ball formats in the past few years.
Abhishek Sharma (5), Suryakumar Yadav (1) and Shubman Gill (12) perished trying to meet the slower deliveries early as India were left tottering at 20 for three.
Earlier, a majestic Kuldeep, in the company of a wily Varun Chakravarthy and a parsimonious Axar Patel, literally ran through an inept Pakistan batting line-up skittling out the arch-rivals for a below par 146 for 19.1 overs after opting to field. Hamstrung by Hardik Pandya’s absence and pushed back briefly due to a solid opening stand of 84 between Sahibzada Farhan (57 off 38 balls) and Fakhar Zaman (46 off 35 balls), the Indian spin troika of Kuldeep (4/30 in 4 overs), Axar Patel (2/26 in 4 overs) and Chakravarthy (2/30 in 4 overs) literally choked them in the back-10 to bring India right back in the match.
From 113 for one at one stage when Fakhar and Saim Ayub were batting, wickets fell like nine pins once Kuldeep got rid of the latter. India got the remaining nine wickets for 33 runs to take the upperhand halfway into the final.
BRIEF SCORES
Pakistan: 146 all out in 19.1 overs (Sahibzada Farhan 57, Fakhar Zaman 46; Kuldeep Yadav 4/30).
India: 150 for five in 19.4 overs (Tilak Varma 69 not out, Shivam Dube 33).