India snubs presentation after beating Pakistan with two balls left to win Asia Cup
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India clinched its ninth Asia Cup title by defeating rival Pakistan in a thrilling final on Monday morning (AEST).
The match came down to the wire, with India securing a five-wicket victory with only two balls to spare.
Notably, there were no handshakes between the Indian and Pakistani teams at the toss or at the end of the game, a continuation of the teams' refusal to shake hands after their two previous matches.
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India celebrates its Asia Cup victory with a mock trophy. Surjeet Yadav/MB Media via Getty Images
In the final twist of an occasionally troubled tournament, the Indian team declined to receive the trophy and winners' medals from Mohsin Naqvi — head of the Pakistan Cricket Board and Asian Cricket Council, and also Pakistan's interior minister — and the tournament ended without either presentation.
Tilak Varma scored 69 not out for India off 53 balls, including a crucial six against Haris Rauf in the 20th over.
Rinku Singh hit the winning runs with a four — the only ball Singh faced in the entire tournament.
Put into bat, Pakistan had earlier collapsed from 1-113 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 3-20 after four overs, including the prized wicket of Abhishek Sharma (5).
But Varma and Shivam Dube (33) led the recovery as India reached 5-150 in 19.4 overs.
India celebrates its Asia Cup victory without the trophy. Francois Nel via Getty Images
Varma added 57 off 50 balls with Sanju Samson (24), but the game-changing partnership was between Varma and Dube (33 off 22 balls).
The duo added 60 off 40 balls to snatch the game out of Pakistan's hands.
The presentation ceremony was delayed for an hour after the final ball.
The Pakistan team collected its individual medals.
Varma and Sharma collected their individual awards for player of the match and player of the tournament, respectively, but not from Naqvi.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I have been informed by the ACC (Asian Cricket Council) that the Indian cricket team will not be collecting their awards tonight. So that does conclude the post-match presentation," presenter Simon Doull announced.
The Asia Cup trophy is exiled from the official presentation. Surjeet Yadav/MB Media via Getty Images
It was India's second T20 Asia Cup victory following its 2016 triumph, and its ninth overall since 1984, across all 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 the group stage and super four — and both matches were won comfortably by India.
