Dubai (National Times) India romped to a comprehensive seven-wicket victory in their high-intensity encounter against Pakistan in the men’s Asia Cup 2025 in Dubai on Sunday.

The match had been coloured from the start by calls from across the border to ‘boycott’ the fixture. It seems the pressure got to the players as well, with the Pakistan and Indian captains not shaking hands, as is customary, after the toss.

At the post-match ceremony, Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav seemingly ‘politicised’ the victory by bringing up the Pahalgham terrorist attack, over which the two countries fought deadly skirmishes in May, saying the victory was “a perfect gift” for his country.

“We stand with the victim families of the Pahalgam terror attack, and we express our solidarity, and we want to dedicate today’s win to the armed forces,” the Indian skipper said.

Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha was not present at the post-match ceremony.

Pakistan’s white-ball head coach Mike Hesson explained that the reason the Pakistani skipper was absent from the ceremony was because of the Indian team’s “disappointing” conduct at the end of the match.

“It was a follow-on effect of the fact that we were obviously keen to engage and shake hands at the end of the match, but that obviously didn’t happen,” Hesson said.

Earlier, it was a clinical performance by the Men in Blue after the Indian spinners ruled the roost in the first innings and Pakistan stumbled to 127 thanks to an excellent cameo by Shaheen Afridi down the order.

The pick of the bowlers for India was Kuldeep Yadav, who ended with figures of 3-19 as the Indian spinners never let the Pakistani batters settle.

He was ably supported by the left-arm spin of Patel and pacer Bumrah on a pitch that did not have any demons throughout the match.