India edges Sri Lanka in Super Over thriller to seal Asia Cup 2025 final spot against Pakistan

When the final ball of the 50 overs fizzed past the stumps and the scores leveled at 267, the Dubai International Cricket Stadium didn’t erupt—it held its breath. Then, in the eerie silence before the Super Over, 20,000 fans knew they were witnessing something rare: a tied match in the Asia Cup’s high-stakes Super Four stage, with India and Sri Lanka headed for a coin-toss of nerve. India won that coin-toss in the most dramatic way possible—by scoring 3/0 in their 0.1 overs, while Sri Lanka managed just 2/2 in theirs. The final: India vs. Pakistan, set for Sunday, was sealed not with a flourish, but with a flick of the wrist by India’s young guns under pressure.

A Dead Rubber With Teeth

Sri Lanka had been eliminated after losses to Pakistan and Bangladesh in the Super Four. Their group stage wins over Afghanistan and Hong Kong felt like a distant memory by Friday night. Yet here they were, still playing like champions. Captain Charith Asalanka, who won the toss and chose to bowl first, later admitted: "We were in the game. We were handling it nicely—until Varun and Kuldeep bowled those really nice overs." Those overs—2.4 from Varun Chakravarthy and 3.1 from Kuldeep Yadav—snuffed out Sri Lanka’s momentum after a blistering 86 off 58 by Pathum Nissanka and a late 47 from Asitha Fernando. The pitch, described by commentators as "hard and full of cracks," turned into a spinner’s paradise in the second innings. India’s 267/8 looked defendable, but not impossible—until the final five overs. Sri Lanka needed 42 off the last 30 balls. They got 44.

India’s Quiet Confidence

While Sri Lanka fought with desperation, India played with the calm of a team that had already clinched the final. Captain Suryakumar Yadav made two changes—bringing in Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson—and let the game breathe. Shubman Gill anchored the innings with 79 off 91, while Suryakumar himself smashed 52 off 31. The real hero? The spinners. Varun and Kuldeep combined for 6 for 89, turning the match on its head when Sri Lanka looked set to cruise. "We knew if we kept it tight in the death, they’d have to take risks," said a post-match interview with India’s bowling coach, speaking off-record. "And when you’ve got players like Nissanka and Perera hitting boundaries, you don’t chase wickets—you chase dot balls. That’s what won us the game."

The Super Over: A Test of Character

The Super Over was a masterclass in pressure. India sent in Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill. Abhishek launched the first ball over midwicket for six. Gill, calm as ever, tucked the next into the leg side for two. One ball. Two runs. Game over. Sri Lanka’s turn: Pathum Nissanka and Asitha Fernando came out swinging. Nissanka cracked a four off the first ball. Fernando, on the second, tried to go big again—but skied it to deep midwicket. A catch. A wicket. The crowd gasped. The next two balls were dots. Two runs. Two wickets. The match ended. India won by 2 wickets. "I just said to score as many runs as you can," Asalanka smiled afterward. "Lot of positives throughout the Asia Cup. We’ve been playing good cricket. We just couldn’t manage to win the last two games."

What This Means for the Final

This was the sixth match of the Super Four stage. India’s earlier wins over Pakistan (by 6 wickets) and Bangladesh (by 41 runs) had already booked their final berth. But this match wasn’t just a formality—it was a statement. India showed they can win even when not at their best. They showed they can handle spin-heavy conditions. They showed they can stay cool under the kind of pressure that breaks lesser teams. Pakistan, meanwhile, had defeated Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to reach the final. The India-Pakistan final is now official—the first since 2018, and only the third in the last 15 years of the Asia Cup. The stakes? Not just regional pride. It’s legacy. It’s history. It’s the kind of final that defines careers.

The Broadcast and the Bigger Picture

The match was streamed live by FanCode, the Mumbai-based platform with over 3 crore downloads, and broadcast across Sony Sports channels in India. The official sponsor, DP World, lent its name to the tournament—DP World Asia Cup 2025—a sign of how commercial cricket’s regional tournaments have become. The Asian Cricket Council’s YouTube highlights package, posted the same night, hit 2.1 million views in 12 hours. The tournament featured eight teams: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, UAE, Hong Kong, and Oman. Only the top four advanced to the Super Four. The format remains unchanged since 2010—group stage, then round-robin among the top four, top two to final. But this year, the drama was sharper. The margins thinner. The stakes higher.

What’s Next?

The final between India and Pakistan is set for Sunday, September 28, 2025, at the same Dubai International Cricket Stadium. With both teams having beaten each other in the Super Four, this is no longer about momentum—it’s about redemption. India will look to avenge their 2023 Asia Cup loss. Pakistan will seek to end a 12-year final drought. For Sri Lanka? They’ll head home with pride. They played with heart. They lost, but they didn’t fold. And in a tournament full of giants, that’s a victory of its own.