2025 Asia Cup final
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The 2025 Asia Cup Final was a men's T20I cricket match, played between India and Pakistan on 28 September 2025 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai. It was the first time that India and Pakistan were facing each other in an Asia Cup final since the competition's inception in 1984. India defeated Pakistan by 5 wickets to win their ninth title and thus retained the title.
Background
The dates for the tournament were released in July 2024, with India initially set to host the tournament. However, following the Pahalgam attack in early 2025 and the subsequent escalation of political crisis and military conflict between India and Pakistan, concerns arose over the feasibility of hosting matches involving both nations in India. In July 2025, during the Asian Cricket Council's annual meeting in Dhaka, ACC chairman Mohsin Naqvi announced that the tournament would instead be held in the United Arab Emirates, with matches staged in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The UAE was selected as a neutral venue due to its prior experience hosting high-profile multinational cricket tournaments under similar circumstances.
The 2025 edition was held in the UAE from 9 to 28 September with eleven matches in Dubai, eight in Abu Dhabi and the final in Dubai, following a schedule revision by organisers to standardise evening start times. The tournament was played in the T20I format and, while the Board of Control for Cricket in India remained the official host, matches were held in the UAE to ensure a neutral venue for fixtures involving India and Pakistan. A reserve day for the final was listed for 29 September in Dubai.
The meeting of India and Pakistan in the 2025 final was unprecedented in Asia Cup's history despite the sides having contested major finals in other competitions such as the 2007 World Twenty20, won by India, and the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy, won by Pakistan.
Before this match, both India and Pakistan have faced each other 5 times in the T20I format of Asia Cup's history, with India winning four matches while Pakistan winning one match.
Venue
The final was held at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai, on 28 September 2025. It has a capacity of 25,000.
No BCCI official travelled to Dubai.
Road to the final
India opened their campaign with a victory over the hosts United Arab Emirates in Dubai, bowling them out for 57 before completing a straightforward chase. Then, they defeated arch-rivals Pakistan by 7 wickets and went on to defeat Oman in Abu Dhabi by 21 runs to seal top spot in Group A. In the Super Four, India again defeated Pakistan by six wickets at Dubai as Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill shared a century stand in a 172 chase, and later overcame Bangladesh by 41 runs and Sri Lanka in the super over to clinch their place in the final.
Pakistan opened their campaign with a huge victory over Oman by 93 runs, but lost the next match to India, later they defeated United Arab Emirates by 42 runs and came second in Group A. In the Super Four, they again got defeated by India, but secured qualification in the final by defeating Sri Lanka by 5 wickets and Bangladesh by 11 runs at Dubai, in a low-scoring match.
| India | Titles | Pakistan | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opponent | Result | Group Stage | Opponent | Result | ||||
| United Arab Emirates | Won | Match 1 | Oman | Won | ||||
| Pakistan | Won | Match 2 | India | Lost | ||||
| Oman | Won | Match 3 | United Arab Emirates | Won | ||||
| Final standings | ||||||||
| Group A table Pos Teamvte Pld W L NR Pts NRR Qualification 1 India 3 3 0 0 6 3.547 Advanced to the Super Four 2 Pakistan 3 2 1 0 4 1.790 3 United Arab Emirates (H) 3 1 2 0 2 −1.984 4 Oman 3 0 3 0 0 −2.600Source: ESPNcricinfo (H) Host | ||||||||
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | NR | Pts | NRR | Qualification |
| 1 | India | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3.547 | Advanced to the Super Four |
| 2 | Pakistan | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1.790 | |
| 3 | United Arab Emirates (H) | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | −1.984 | |
| 4 | Oman | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | −2.600 | |
| Opponent | Result | Super Four | Opponent | Result | ||||
| Pakistan | Won | Match 1 | India | Lost | ||||
| Bangladesh | Won | Match 2 | Sri Lanka | Won | ||||
| Sri Lanka | Tied (Won Super Over) | Match 3 | Bangladesh | Won | ||||
| Super Four Table |
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | NR | Pts | NRR | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | India | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0.913 | Advanced to the Final |
| 2 | Pakistan | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0.329 | |
| 3 | Bangladesh | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | −0.831 | |
| 4 | Sri Lanka | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | −0.418 |
Match
Match officials
Source:
- On-field umpires: Ahmed Shah Pakteen (Afg) and Masudur Rahman (Ban)
- Third umpire: Raveendra Wimalasiri (SL)
- Reserve umpire: Gazi Sohel (Ban)
- Match referee: Richie Richardson (WI)
Teams and toss
India's captain Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and elected to field. However, during the toss both captains did not shake hands for the third consecutive time in the tournament. Pakistan remained unchanged from the side that played the previous match while India brought Rinku Singh, Jasprit Bumrah and Shivam Dube in place of Hardik Pandya, Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh respectively.
Summary
| 28 September 2025 18:30 (N) |
| Pakistan 146 (19.1 overs) | v | India 150/5 (19.4 overs) |
| Sahibzada Farhan 57 (38) Kuldeep Yadav 4/30 (4 overs) | Tilak Varma 69* (53) Faheem Ashraf 3/29 (4 overs) |
| India won by 5 wicketsDubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai Umpires: Ahmed Shah Pakteen (Afg) and Masudur Rahman (Ban) Player of the match: Tilak Varma (Ind) |
- India won the toss and elected to field.
- Faheem Ashraf (Pak) took his 50th wicket in T20Is.
Scorecard
Source:
1st innings
| Pakistan batting | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Status | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | Strike rate |
| Sahibzada Farhan | c Tilak b Varun | 57 | 38 | 5 | 3 | 150.00 |
| Fakhar Zaman | c Yadav b Varun | 46 | 35 | 2 | 2 | 131.42 |
| Saim Ayub | c Bumrah b Yadav | 14 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 127.27 |
| Mohammad Haris | c Rinku b Patel | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Salman Ali Agha | c †Samson b Yadav | 8 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 114.28 |
| Hussain Talat | c †Samson b Patel | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Mohammad Nawaz | c Rinku b Bumrah | 6 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 66.66 |
| Shaheen Afridi | lbw b Yadav | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Faheem Ashraf | c Tilak b Yadav | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Haris Rauf | b Bumrah | 6 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 150.00 |
| Abrar Ahmed | not out | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Extras | (b 1, lb 2, w 4) | 7 | ||||
| Total | (10 wickets; 19.1 overs) | 146 | 10 | 5 | RR: 7.61 |
Fall of wickets: 1/84 (Farhan, 9.4 ov), 2/113 (Ayub, 12.5 ov), 3/114 (Haris, 13.3 ov), 4/126 (Zaman, 14.4 ov), 5/131 (Talat, 15.3 ov), 6/133 (Salman, 16.1 ov), 7/134 (Afridi, 16.4 ov), 8/134 (Ashraf, 16.6 ov), 9/141 (Rauf, 17.5 ov), 10/146 (Nawaz, 19.1 ov)
| India bowling | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bowler | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Econ | Wides | NBs |
| Shivam Dube | 3 | 0 | 23 | 0 | 7.66 | 0 | 0 |
| Jasprit Bumrah | 3.1 | 0 | 25 | 2 | 7.89 | 0 | 0 |
| Varun Chakravarthy | 4 | 0 | 30 | 2 | 7.50 | 0 | 0 |
| Axar Patel | 4 | 0 | 26 | 2 | 6.50 | 0 | 0 |
| Kuldeep Yadav | 4 | 0 | 30 | 4 | 7.50 | 4 | 0 |
| Tilak Varma | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 9.00 | 0 | 0 |
2nd innings
| India batting | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Status | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | Strike rate |
| Abhishek Sharma | c Rauf b Ashraf | 5 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 83.33 |
| Shubman Gill | c Rauf b Ashraf | 12 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 120.00 |
| Suryakumar Yadav | c Salman b Afridi | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20.00 |
| Tilak Varma | not out | 69 | 53 | 3 | 4 | 130.18 |
| Sanju Samson | c Farhan b Abrar | 24 | 21 | 2 | 1 | 114.28 |
| Shivam Dube | c Afridi b Ashraf | 33 | 22 | 2 | 2 | 150.00 |
| Rinku Singh | not out | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 400.00 |
| Axar Patel | ||||||
| Kuldeep Yadav | ||||||
| Varun Chakravarthy | ||||||
| Jasprit Bumrah | ||||||
| Extras | (w 2) | 2 | ||||
| Total | (5 wickets; 19.4 overs) | 150 | 10 | 7 | RR: 7.62 |
Fall of wickets: 1/7 (Abhishek, 1.1 ov), 2/10 (Suryakumar, 2.3 ov), 3/20 (Gill, 3.6 ov), 4/77 (Samson, 12.2 ov), 5/137 (Dube, 18.6 ov)
| Pakistan bowling | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bowler | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Econ | Wides | NBs |
| Shaheen Afridi | 4 | 0 | 20 | 1 | 5.00 | 0 | 0 |
| Faheem Ashraf | 4 | 0 | 29 | 3 | 7.25 | 0 | 0 |
| Mohammad Nawaz | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6.00 | 0 | 0 |
| Haris Rauf | 3.4 | 0 | 50 | 0 | 13.63 | 1 | 0 |
| Abrar Ahmed | 4 | 0 | 29 | 1 | 7.25 | 1 | 0 |
| Saim Ayub | 3 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 5.33 | 0 | 0 |
Aftermath
During the post-match presentation Tilak Varma was named Player of the Match for scoring 69* runs off 53 balls while Abhishek Sharma was named Player of the Tournament for his strong batting performance throughout the tournament.
Later, BCCI announced ₹21 crore prize money for the Indian team including the players, coaches, support staff and team officials.
However, at the presentation ceremony a major controversy erupted as the Indian team refused to accept the winning trophy from ACC president Mohsin Naqvi who also serves as Pakistan's Interior Minister and Chairman of the PCB. This led to a delay in handing out awards, and the team trophy was not formally presented on stage. India's captain Suryakumar Yadav later said the side had been "denied" the opportunity to lift the trophy and criticised the handling of the ceremony. Naqvi handed the trophy to the UAE cricket authorities when the BCCI threatened to impeach him from the ACC presidency for misconduct.