- By Namrata Vijay
- Sun, 28 Sep 2025 02:09 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
IND vs PAK Asia Cup 2025 Final: Not very often does arch-rivals India and Pakistan face ech other during a bilateral series. And when they do, it has always been more than once. The Asia Cup 2025 is the biggest example of this incident. First they face each other during the group stage and then in the Super 4s and for the first time in 41 years, they will be facing each other in a summit clash. The arch-rivals will be aiming to clinch the title. The Men in Blue have won the title eight times in all formats whereas Pakistan have won just twice- once in 2000 and 2012.
The gap between these two nations is quite huge as far as talented players are concerned but it wasn;t like this always. The Suryakumar Yadav-led side might have won seven consecutive matches, but Pakistan still have an upper edge in the head-to-head records and that only shows how different the situation was in 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s.
The Men in Green have defeated India a lot of times in finals and one win which still hurts the Indian fans the most is the summit clash of the 2017 Champions Trophy as it was the last time that these teams had faced each other in the summit clash of the multi-nation tournament. The Men in Blue had defeated Pakistan during group stage matches by 124 runs. The Virat Kohli-led side were considered as the favourites while entering the summit clash. But no one saw as to what had happened on the day of the match in Oval. Pakistan posted a mammoth target of 180 runs and had won their first Champions Trophy title.
How the match unfolded
Except Fakhar Zaman, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya, none of the other players from both the teams will be seen playing the match on Sunday. Fakhar was one of the star players during that final match of 2017. He had scored his career-best knock of 114 runs and that made all the difference. The Men in Blue should have dismissed him early if it wasn't for Bumrah bowling a no-ball. Fakhar had scored just three runs where Bumrah overstepped the line and the rest is history. Fakhar had smashed a hundred and fifties if Azhar Ali and Mohammad Hafeez helped Pakistan post a mammoth target of 338/4.
In reply, India had a shaky start. The top-order batters Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were dismissed by Mohammad Amir, who had registered a brilliant bowling figurers of 3/16 after bowling in six overs. Hardik Pandya did put up a valiant fight as he ha scored 76 runs off 43 balls, in which he had smashed six sixes an if he wasnn't involved in a run-out ith Ravindra Jadeja, he could have took the team across the line. Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni did try to help the team make a comeback. But Pakistan made sure that the match didn't slip from their hands.
Back to 2025, things do look quite similar. Suryakumar Yaav-led side are the favourites an won't give Pakistan any chance. India does have 11 players as match an Pakistan doesn't have many.