India vs Pakistan: After 18 Years, Asia Cup Final

The wait is not in vain: India and Pakistan are going to collide in a final of T20I in 18 years. It will be the two cricketing giants in the Asia Cup 2025 summit clash on Sunday, September 28, seven years after their historic Champions Trophy final in London.

India sailed to the final with a fairly easy time but Pakistan had to go deep to get their own. Pakistan won a tensed Super 4 match on Thursday by 11 runs over Bangladesh, setting the stage of the blockbuster final with their arch-rivals.

Bowlers in Pakistan took the lead right away and demolished a weak batting line-up of Bangladesh. Bangladesh was not in you following 135 and only Shamim Hossain resisted scoring 30. Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf were very clinical with a ball and were taking three wickets apiece with the important batters of the team such as Saif Hassan, Parvez Hossain Emon, Towhid Hridoy, Jaker Ali, failing at the right place and time.

Bowlers in Bangladesh struggled in tricky and humid conditions and Pakistan was reduced to 135. Mustafizur Rahman (1/33), Taskin Ahmed (3/28) and leg spinner Rishad Hossain (2/18) utilized a turning pitch and bothered the top-order. With such a meager number, however, Pakistan remained in the game courtesy of Mohammed Haris, with 31 on 23 balls, Afridi, 19 with two sixes, and a vigorous 25 on 15 by Mohammed Nawaz.

There were dramatic moments in the innings of Pakistan. Taskin Ahmed (4) bowled out Opener Sahibzada Farhan (4) and this was his 100th T20I wicket. Saim Ayub (0) had his fourth duck of the series when he was bowled by Hasan Mahedi (2/28). Hussain Talat (3) and Salman Ali Agha (19), also Fakhar Zaman (13) did not even make it to 50. The aggressive hitting by Afridi, Haris and Nawaz as well as a few ball lost opportunities assisted Pakistan to cross 125.

Pakistan was not much to be desired in terms of batting, but their bowling performance saw them through to the final. They can now have high expectations of an India vs Pakistan final, a T20I summit clash which has not occurred in almost 20 years.