Asia Cup: India become nine-time champions

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the uk.

This is the story of the One As a custodial supervisor at a high school, he knows that during cold and flu season, germs spread fast. It's why he partners with Grainger to stay fully stocked on the products and supplies he needs, from tissues to disinfectants to floor scrubbers, all so that he can help students, staff and teachers stay healthy and focused. Call 1-800-GRAINGER Click grainger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done.

At the BBC. We go further so you see clearer With a subscription to BBC.com, you get unlimited articles and videos, hundreds of ad free podcasts and the BBC News Channel streaming live 24. 7 from less than a dollar a week for your first year. Read, watch and listen to trusted independent journalism and storytelling. It all starts with a subscription to BBC.com find out more@BBC.com unlimited.

You're listening to the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 live.

Hello everybody, I'm Artif Nawaz. Welcome to the TMS podcast where India have won the 2025 Asia cup, their ninth Asia cup title, beating Pakistan by 55 wickets. What a final it was with India winning with the third ball of the final over of the competition. I'm alongside TMS commentator Nikesh Regani to go over it all. Nikesh, what a final to what's been an incredibly dramatic tournament.

Yeah, absolutely incredible Artif. For, for the best match of the competition. To be in the final was so good to see and you know we've talked about one sided India vs Pakistan matches haven't we over recent times. Well this was anything but one sided. It ebbed and it flowed and there times when Pakistan were batting when they were batting first where it looked as though they're going to post a huge total. India came back well with the ball and then in India's innings they were off to a terrible start. Pakistan bowling really well early on and then that partnership between Shivam Dube and Thilak Varma really took the game in India's favor. And Rinku Singh getting the job done off the only ball that he's faced in the entire tournament. You couldn't make it up really.

Yeah. Dream run for Rinku Singh for sure. And we'll talk about this final in a lot of detail. 9th title for India who've been dominant in the 41 year history of this tournament. But how did we get to the final? So let's briefly go over the matches that took place in the Super 8 stage. It started all of course with an India Pakistan match. India winning their second of three games as it turned out against Pakistan reasonably comfortably. It wasn't as comfortable as the first match between the two. Pakistan making a little bit of progress, but India still getting home and dry reasonably comfortably. And that set both teams off on a slightly different path. Pakistan having to beat Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to set up a third match against India in the final and India having an opportunity to mess around with their depth a little bit, which has really been one of the, one of the sort of main things that's come out of this tournament. Just this expression of how much talent India has at their disposal. You mentioned the final Nikesh being the game of the tournament. I think there's a pretty good shout for India versus Sri Lanka in the Super 4 stage because it went to a super over. The only game to go to a super over. You know, more than 400 runs scored in the aggregate of that match and an all timer innings, the only century of the tournament from Batum Nissanka. That was a cracking game of cricket.

It was. And it kind of shows that Batum Nisanka, as we were saying in the earlier episode of this Asia cup podcast here on tms, that he's come of age really we were hearing from Mark Machado, weren't we, about how he's sort of never really had that consistency early on in his career was, was technically correct but never kind adapted himself to T20 cricket on a consistent basis. Well, he showed in that game that he has got every shot in the book. He paced his innings so perfectly well. Well, almost perfectly well. They're not, not enough to get that extra run to see Sri Lanka over the winning line. But you know, it was a fabulous innings from him, a sort of real captain's knock almost from, from Patam Nisanka. Just, just showing the fact that Sri Lanka have come so far in this format over the last couple of years and, and they're still competing with the best sides in to the biggest stages of ICC tournaments and here in the Asia Cup. But once again look, it was a great game. Of course it was tied. It went to a super over. Sri Lanka kind of flopped in the super over, losing those couple of wickets. But there was no pressure, there wasn't the pressure of a final. India certainly didn't have any pressure themselves. Of course Sri Lanka still had an opportunity to try and get through to the final with victory over India and that wasn't to be, but just didn't have quite the same feeling as the final did. So. Although I'd give it certainly a good shout as one of the matches of the tournament, I think the final probably just about pips it just because of the occasion, the fact that it was India versus Pakistan and both sides had something to play for.

Yeah. And there were. There was a better fireworks display as well. I have to say. They didn't skimp on the budget for fireworks at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Bangladesh, they didn't get through to the final. There were high hopes, particularly as they got into the Super 4 stage. But I think they put in two very good performances against both India and Pakistan in the Super Fours. Of course, they didn't get under the line against either of them, but just underline that they do have a very strong team in this format.

They do. And that. That was a big surprise, I think, to many because before the start of the tournament, we were looking at their group in the preliminary stage and, you know, it was a group of death. Yes, they were with Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. And then, you know, it was going to be two out of the three that made it through to the Super Fours. We were all tipping Afghanistan, weren't we, as favorites to win that group. And it wasn't to be for them, despite their efforts in ICC tournaments over the last few years where they performed really well, they just were unable to find any kind of performances. And it was that young Bangladesh side which kind of rose to the occasion, wasn't it? Those, you know, youngsters like Rishad Hussain and Jacquerali as well, putting in really good performances throughout the group stage and into the Super Fours, but it just wasn't quite to be. They competed well, as you say, against both India and Pakistan. You would have expected them to firstly chase down the 130 odd against Pakistan to. To beat them, but then to let Pakistan get to that total in the first place. I think that's where things fell apart for Bangladesh. With the ball. They had Pakistan struggling. They could have bowled them out for less than 100 at one stage, it looked like that was going to happen. And then some runs towards the end from Shaheen Afridi once more, and then, you know, a couple of others just making those contributions toward the end to get them up to something which was defendable. And I think that showed as well, you know, Bangladesh, yes, they competed well, but Pakistan, when it came down to it, they got better and better throughout the tournament. I did tell you that, didn't I, at the start of the tournament you watch, they will get better and better. They always do this, don't they? 2017 Champions Trophy, 2019 World Cup. So many tournaments where they start off so badly, they get better and better towards the end. Sometimes it's not enough to get them over the line and into the knockout stages and into finals, but on this occasion they were very, very close in the end. And yeah, it was that, that match against Bangladesh, which I think really gave them momentum going into the final and belief that they can defend small targets, that they can rely on batters down the order to get them up to decent totals. And it nearly, nearly paid off against India, didn't it?

Yep. Let's talk about the final. Let's get to the meat and bones of what everybody wants to hear about. How did India get to their ninth title in this final? Well, it all started well, I mean, with. It was an unusual toss, actually, because there were two separate broadcasters covering the toss. It's not happened like that before, but Surya Kumariad have won the toss, put Pakistan into bat first. And I think Pakistan had a reasonable power play. 45 for no loss from a power play. It's not as many as they got in the second game against India, but they did go wicketless. I thought within the conditions, they started reasonably well. Particularly Sahib Zada Farhan who got himself a half century, played some extraordinary shots of Jaspreet Bumrah. Maybe the only batter to really dominate. Nominate, just breath Boomer, really the only one that ever really comes to mind. He couldn't make it a telling innings in the end, getting dismissed in the 50s. But I thought the start that he gave Pakistan at one stage, 111 for one in the 12th over, that was a very, very good foundation. I wrote on social media at the time. I think this is beyond most Pakistan fans wildest expectations because at that point they were in the driver's seat.

Absolutely. Look, when India are bowling first and you know Jasper Bumrah is steaming in and then you've got the likes of Kip Yad, Varun Chakravarti, Akar Patel all coming in on a track which did assist the spinners, you would have expected India to take some early wickets in that innings. It wasn't to be. I mean, look after the first over where Shivam Dube opened the bowling for, I think the first time in his career because Hardik Pandya was missing through injury, I thought, all right, here we go. IND India are going to be taken for a few here in the power play. And actually Shivam Dube bowled a really good first couple of overs, kept things fairly tight. It was Jasper Bumrah who ended up conceding a few too many runs from an Indian point of view. But look, 45 without loss off the power play that the key thing there is Pakistan built the foundation. They didn't lose any wickets and they had plenty of batting to come, which allowed then the accelerator to be pushed. And as you say, 113 for one. I think it was the time when they lost that second wicket that really swung things in India's favour because, you know, a whole clump of wickets fell. One stage, Gul Dip Yadav took three in an over just to peg Pakistan back. And at one stage it looked as though they're going to be on for 180, 190, which would have been an excellent total on that pitch, which got slower and slower throughout the evening. But the Indians, doing what they do, doing what a champion side does, really doesn't matter what happens in the first 12, 13 overs. It's how you finish in innings and how you come back and keep your head when things aren't going for you is. Is the key to winning these kind of tournaments. And India have been there, they've done that. And once again they. They just showed the quality that they've got in their spin attack. Absolutely outstanding.

Yeah, it was the spinners, as you say, who did the damage. Akshar Patel, Guldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarti. The three of them, I think they're going to be a handful come the T20 World cup next year in India and Sri Lanka as well. Those three form quite the threat, particularly in the middle overs of a game, I would suggest. I mean, Pakistan, you mentioned 113 for one. They finished on 140 out. I mean, I've watched Pakistan cricket my whole life. That's got to be in the top 5% of. I can't put in the top 1%, but the top 5% of collapses that they've endured. Obviously India bowled quite well in that phase with great control, great guile, you know, very strong tactically. It felt to me, Nikesh, like Pakistan were just trying to go too hard. They got into that position, they felt compelled to go for that 180, 190, as you say, and they didn't just humble themselves. Maybe some critique was. Came their way in the second match against India in the super four stage, where it was suggested they didn't score heavily enough between sort of overs 11 to 15, where batters are coming out and trying to swing first ball, Muhammad Harris, you know, I felt like they got that bit wrong. Pakistan just trying to be very, very aggressive. And Kuldeep Yadav, you mentioned, you know, he went for 12 and over from his first two overs without taking a wicket. Finished with a triple wicket over, as you said, and finished the tournament with 17 wickets. Nobody's been so out and out dominant in this competition like Gul Di B Yadav. Would you say he cemented himself as India's premier spinner at least for seasons to come?

Certainly in this format of the game? In white ball cricket, yes, in both T20s and in ODIs, 100%. I think he's shown his performances have been consistent in both domestic cricket. When you talk about the ipl, which is a very, very good standard of domestic cricket. And then in the T20 World cup in, in One Day Internationals as well, it'd be a big part of the next ODI World cup as well, you'd imagine. So. Yes, certainly. I think he's, he's cemented his place as the number one spinner for India. But close behind is Varun Chakravarti who despite not being there at the top of the wicket taking charts, always causes problems. He's got an unusual action. He's kind of a very languid kind of bowler. The way he runs in, his shirt's hanging out, he's got the long sleeves on which are often oversized. He looks as though he's borrowed his kit off somebody, but he rocks up off two or three steps and causes all sorts of problems for the batters. Very difficult to score off. So I think they work really well in tandem. And then you've got Akshay Patel who's been there and done it across formats. Can bat in the top five or six as well. Gives you so many options with that regard. So I think India are blessed in terms of the kind of spin attack they've got. Not just in the, in the team itself but, but I think the bench strength as well. What is there to come is quite scary prospect for other sides going forward. So yeah, Kuldip, yeah, they've at the top of the pile at the moment, but India have got plenty of depth when it comes to that spin bowling attack. So, you know, once again that proved to be the difference, didn't it, in winning this tournament?

We'll pick up this conversation shortly but first make sure you subscribe to the TMS podcast as there's plenty coming your way with the Women's World cup right around the corner. Every ball of Every match from India and Sri Lanka starting on 30 September and England begin their campaign. The first tournament led by head coach Charlotte Edwards and captain Natsiva Brunt on the 3rd of October against South Africa, which you can hear on BBC Sounds with the match starting at 10:30 in the morning.

The TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 live.

At the BBC we go further so you see clearer with a subscription to BBC.com, you get unlimited articles and videos, hundreds of ad free podcasts and the BBC News channel streaming live 247 from less than a dollar a week for your first year. Read, watch and listen to trusted independent journalism and storytelling. It all starts with a subscription to BBC.com find out more@BBC.com unlimited.

Let's talk about India's batting for a second at 148. The target. You're thinking pretty straightforward for India. You know, they'll get this done in no time at all. You know, coming off the back of the momentum, you know, getting Pakistan to collapse from 113 for 1 to 147 all out. But it started with a wobble. Pakistan bowled really well up top, took three wickets and the power play, you know, the top order, those top three, Abhishek Sharma, who's at a spectacular tournament by the way, topped the the run scoring chart. 314 runs from his seven innings averaging 44 and a strike rate of exactly 200. Also just side note, hit 19 sixes in this competition. Who's been, you know, basically the standout performer of this competition for me, as a lot of us predicted in our preview podcast as well, I should say Abhishek Sharma, just absolutely superb. But in the final was dismissed cheaply by Fahim Ashraf, went to the slower ball, went after it. Adabhishik Sharma couldn't put it away. Pakistan gets some early wickets using those changes of paces really, really well and India sort of finished the power play at 36 for three. So at that point it needed a stabilizing hand for India and Dilak Varma is the player who came through and delivered. He finished on 69 not out in the end and played essentially a match winning innings for Meenakesh. He was the difference between the two sides today. That innings took India to the title. What do you think?

Yeah, certainly. I mean I was saying when I was watching his knock there at the end going into that final over, he just smashed that six and then took the single. It was down to Rinku Singh to hit the winning runs and Just before the winning runs were hit, it was going through my mind that Dilak Varma has. He's basically played a Virat Kohli knock there, hasn't he? That's what Virat Kohli has done so often For India across T20 international cricket, ODI cricket, the finisher's role, the chasers role, whatever you want to call it, he sees games through and he gets India over the line time and time again. And Dilak Verma didn't just do it in the final, he's done it in a couple of matches recently where India have been a little bit touch and go as to whether or not they're going to get a chase over the line. Dilip Verma comes in in that middle order, calms everybody's nerves, just knocks it around, hits the big shot when it's there to be hit, doesn't take any pressure on his shoulders and just inevitably seems to get the job done. It was a fabulous innings. But just to rewind a little bit, I mean, when India were 30 for three early on, losing three wickets in the power play, you never want to do that. I mean, your chances of winning a game go down to around 20% or even less at the point in which you lose three wickets in the power play. So they did well to come back from that. But at that point, as with the end of the Pakistan innings, you could just imagine all the uncles watching the TV sets all around the world cursing at all the players, saying he should be dropped, he should never be playing for his country. You know, all those types of things coming up. I mean, a few of those things were going through my mind as well at some of those points during the India innings early on in that power play. I don't know if you heard Sunogavaska's commentary as well. I guess he's an uncle these days to many around the world and he wasn't very happy with the way the Indians approached that chase. But look, finals do funny things, don't they? You can be the best side in the world, you can have a relatively modest target to chase, but you know, you lose one early, all of a sudden the nerves start going. And it wasn't just losing any odd wicket, it was losing Abhishek Sharma, as you say, who is the outstanding T20 batter at the moment in world cricket at the top of the order. There's none better than him. And his performances have shown that. But he wasn't able to do it in the final. Then all of a sudden India start thinking, well, hang on, we've relied on this guy to get us off to flying starts, and that's made everything so much easier for our middle order. What are we going to do now? And then they start panicking. They start playing shots that they wouldn't normally play in those early stages of innings. And it was just. Just a lot of strange cricket played by both sides with the bat towards the end of the Pakistan innings, towards the beginning of the India innings. And as you say, Thilak Varma just came in, steadied everybody's nerves. And I think Shivam Dubey gave great impetus to that India innings because as good as that Dilak Varma innings was, and, you know, I think he deserved to be player of the match. I didn't quite see the presentation. And who got player of the match? If it wasn't him, I'd be very, very surprised. But Shivan Dube should be up there too, because that impetus that he gave India, that the hitting that he did of Harris Ralph in particular, was just phenomenal. And, you know, for somebody to be bowling so wide of the off stump, but for him to still be able to hit sixes into the onside, that is a skill in itself. And yeah, Shivam Dube, big props to him for getting India almost over the line and then letting Dilip Verma finally finish the job along with Rinku Singh.

Yeah, he was superb. Tall man is Shivam Dubey. We've seen a lot of him in the ipl. And, yeah, you really use that reach to great advantage, as you say, fetching bulls from miles outside the off stump. It was a very clear game plan from Harish Raft. The second over, he couldn't have telegraphed it anymore that I'm aiming for the wide line. One of the balls just about landed on the cut strip as well. It did feel like that was the phase where the game swung. And yeah, I should mention Sanju Sampson as well, who played a nice little cameo. Some lovely shots. There was a cover drive off Shaheen, which was completely against the run of play, which I thought was an exquisite shot. He played so strong off the back foot as well. Sanju Sampson, just much depth in India. They're now kings of Asia for a ninth time. And it's a very strong Asian bloc as well. Nikesh, we should say, because whilst the Asia cup was taking place over in Sharjah, Nepal defeated the West Indies. Now, Nepal didn't qualify for this year's Asia cup, so they're technically the ninth best team in Asia, but they've managed to be a former world champion T20 side in the West Indies. It's a, it's, it's a very strong continent to be champions of for India who are obviously, you know, one of the best teams in the world. But this is, this is a continent with a, with some very, very strong cricket coming out of it.

Absolutely. And it shows, doesn't it, when Nepal are putting in performances like that. And then you've got sides like Afghanistan making World cup semi finals who've come out of nowhere really in the last five or 10 years just to become this force in white ball cricket in major tournaments. Bangladesh now have, seem to have sorted out a few of their issues and they're playing at their more modern brand of T20 cricket and the younger players are coming through to replace the likes of Shakib and Dami Mikbal and one or two others. And Sri Lanka, look, you look down their list and they've got players who play in all the top leagues around the world and have got so much experience across different types of conditions. So I think come the World cup next year and you know, this is not mentioning Indian, Pakistan either, who contested a great final. You look at that T20 World cup up and you wouldn't look far beyond one of those Asian sides to win. Of course India are going to be favorites going into that tournament on home soil or the most of the tournament being played on home soil. But you know, you've got some very, very strong sides there. And look the, the cricket in this Asia cup has been a little bit affected by some substandard pitches in, in my opinion, you know, T20 cricket, you want to see high scoring games, you want the crowd to be entertained. Yes, you want, want something in it for the bowlers, but you don't want something that's too slow and low. And you see 130 plays, you know, 110 and things like that. It's not always great for the game. Yes, the odd game like that is absolutely fine. So I think a little bit of the quality has been affected by the pitches in this competition in, in some of the grounds. But overall you can see that there is so much quality in Asian cricket right now and it's fantastic to see.

Yeah, it certainly is and it's just very exciting as the game continues to grow as well. And as you mentioned, there were a few sort of off field shenanigans that dominated the conversation early doors. But I'm really pleased that the tournament ended with a match that was very exciting, a very gripping Game of cricket, back and forth. Great narrative, the entertainment that we were looking for and a great fireworks display which is always really, really nice to see. Right, one word answers. Nikesh, you go first, I'll go second. Your player of the tournament.

Well, he's got two names. Abhishek Sharma.

I thought you were about to say Abhishek Junjunwala for a second. Just as a tribute to our friend. But yeah, I think it's very hard to, to disagree with that. But just to be different, I'll say Kuldeep Yadav because, you know, 17 wickets across the competition, no joke whatsoever. And some incredible spells, you know, squeezing of the opposition. Anyway, so it's one word answers. So your innings of the tournament.

Innings of the tournament. I'm gonna go. Do I have to give more details on that or do you want which innings?

No, you don't.

You know which innings.

No. Yeah, it wasn't the first one of the tournament, let's put it that way. But I, I again, I can't disagree with you. It's just such a enthralling knock to watch and just sort of watching that game as a neutral, you know, it was very like, I think, you know, you kind of wanted to see David Slate Goliath a little bit. Like you weren't like, like, is he going to take Sri Lanka over the line against the mighty India? He didn't in the end, but it was very, it was a very exciting knock to watch.

Are you going Nissanka as well?

Yeah. I'm going to say obviously there's nothing, I mean, there's nothing compared to that really. I mean, I could have gone with some of Abhishek's innings, you know, he's been superb, as you say, you know, I could have gone with Saib Zither. Ferran's winning his innings as well. A couple of 50s against India. But neither were in a winning cause they didn't go on to be sort of telling in the match. So I think it, you know, honorable mentions maybe to Abhishek and to Zaib Zada, but it's got to be Patum Nisanka for innings of the tournament. Surprise of the tournament.

Surprise of the tournament. I'd say Afghanistan not making the Super Fours because we all expected it, didn't we? World cup semi finalists last time around. Surely.

You know what, I'm going to go the other way. I'm going to say the surprise of the tournament is that we got three India Pakistan matches. Because this event for 41 years has been built with the intention of maximizing India vs Pakistan matches and somehow they've never made it to the final before. So much so that in our preview pods, you know, people were me message, I was getting messages from Ron Alam. I think Bangladesh are going to get there, Mark. I think Sri Lanka are going to get there ahead of Pakistan. But we got there. So I think just the fact that we got to an India Pakistan final for the first time in 41 years, that was the surprise for me. So, yeah, any, any disappointments of the tournament for you? One word answer.

It can't be one word. Aif. I mean, look, I know our producer Jack has got one word answer, but there's got to be a little bit of conf. Go on, go on, go on.

My one word. Handshake.

Handshake. Well, there was no handshake. Yeah, lack of, lack of handshake. Look, I would say disappointment of the tournament. Yeah, all the off field shenanigans. But then at the end of the day, it's what you do on the pitch, isn't it? And I think the, the final kind of proved that, you know, we had a great game of cricket. India managed to get over the line and, and that's, that's all we want to see ultimately, don't we? We want to see good hard cricket played on the field. We don't care about all this off the field. Just, just leave that to one side. Just turn up to a tournament, play good hard cricket, have respect for each other and move on. And, and that's how it should be. And you know, all, all of those players involved in any sign of off field shenanigans or even on field shenanigans in some cases. Just take a look at yourselves and just think, there's no need for that. Just, just play good hard cricket and entertain the crowd and that's what it's all about. And that's what the final day did.

I couldn't agree with you more. Thanks so much, Nikesh. It's been a pleasure chatting as always. Congratulations to India winning the Asia cup for a ninth time. That's it for this episode. Make sure you subscribed so you never miss an episode of the TMS podcast, including the latest episode of the no Balls podcast with Kate Cross and Alex Hartley. Remember, the Women's World cup is just around the corner. You can hear every match, every ball of every match live on BBC sounds across the competition, starting with India against Sri Lanka live from Guwahati 1025 on Tuesday morning on BBC Sounds as well as 5 Sports Extra and the BBC Sport app and website. England start their campaign on Friday against South Africa. Guwahati again, 1025 again, BBC Sounds and 5 Sports Extra again. And you can keep up to date with all things cricket by following BCTM on X and bccricket on Instagram.

Welcome to the Team behind the Team, a new podcast series in partnership with the Open University where we'll be showcasing the people, the tools and the techniques that help athletes and teams reach elite level.

Like all elite sports, it's a pyramid and everybody's trying to get to the top. It's not just my vision, it's a shared vision amongst the team.

What is this? This is not the way I see the game. The Team behind the Team with Katie.

In partnership with the Open University listen on BBC Sound.

At the BBC we go further so you see clearer. Through frontline reporting, global stories and local insights, we bring you closer to the world's news as it happens. And it starts with a subscription to BBC.com giving you unlimited articles and videos, ad free podcasts and the BBC News Channel. Streaming live 24. 7. Subscribe to trusted independent journalism from the BBC. Find out more@BBC.com join.