India head coach Gautam Gambhir let his emotions get the better of him during the Asia Cup 2025 final against Pakistan in Dubai on Sunday. As Tilak Varma all but sealed India’s fate with a pressure-easing six, cameras spotted Gambhir, known for his serious demeanor, making a passionate gesture. In a viral video, Gambhir was seen banging the desk in a rare emotional sight. Chasing 147, India needed 10 runs off the final with Tilak and Rinku Singh in the middle.
Tilak, who was batting on 60, took a double off the first ball, which was bowled by Haris Rauf. On the next delivery, he smoked Rauf for a huge six over midwicket to bring the equation down to two off four balls, easing the nerves the inside the Indian dressing room.
Very rare to see Gautam Gambhir like this pic.twitter.com/M7kVfpj61o
— Vipul (@vipuldhomane) September 28, 2025
Rinku Singh, who was playing his first game of the tournament, hit the winning run with a boundary of mid on as India sealed the deal with five wickets and two balls to spare.
Tilak arguably played the best knock of his international career, remaining unbeaten on 69 off 53 balls.
Put into bat, Pakistan had earlier collapsed from 113-1 to 146 all out in 19.1 overs at Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
That looked like being enough after defending champion India’s terrible start to its innings, dropping to 20-3 after four overs, including the prized wicket of Abhishek Sharma (5).
But Varma and Shivam Dube (33) led the recovery as India reached 150-5 in 19.4 overs.
Varma added 57 off 50 balls with Sanju Samson (24) but the game-changing partnership was between Varma and Dube (33 off 22 balls).
It was India’s second T20 Asia Cup victory after 2016, and ninth overall since 1984, across formats.
This was the first India-Pakistan final in Asia Cup history, which started in 1984. The two sides had already met twice earlier in this tournament – in group play and Super Four – both won comfortably by India.
India’s cricketers refused to shake hands with Pakistan after both those games and there were no handshakes at Sunday’s toss.
(With AP Inputs)