"Best reply was to win the match.." Tilak Varma breaks his silence on getting sledged by Pakistan players in Asia Cup 2025 final

Tilak Varma won Player of the Match award in Asia Cup 2025 final.

Indian batter Tilak Varma has revealed that Pakistan players sledged him on the field during the final of Asia Cup 2025. He also added that the best reply to them was winning the encounter. Indian Cricket Team crushed Pakistan Cricket Team by five wickets in Asia Cup 2025 final on Sunday, September 28 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai.

Varma played a crucial role in leading the team to victory while chasing 147 runs. The left-handed batsman hammered a match-winning knock of 69* in the encounter laced with four sixes and three boundaries.

After losing three wickets cheaply at the start, India were reduced to 20/3 after four overs. However, Varma etched a crucial partnership of 57 runs with Sanju Samson (24) and then 60 runs with Shivam Dube (33) to set the platform for the team’s victory. Earlier, India bowled out Pakistan for 146 runs with a fabulous four-wicket haul by Kuldeep Yadav.

The best reply to them was to win the match: Tilak Varma

Varma was adjudged Player of the Match for his match-winning fifty. During a conversation with PTI, the Indian batter revealed that Pakistan players sledged him on the field. However, he believes the best reply to them was to win the encounter.

“There was some pressure and nerves initially. But I have placed my country ahead of everything else and I wanted to win the match for the country. I knew If I succumbed to the pressure at that time I would be letting down myself and 140 crore people of the country,” he said.

“I believed in the basics that I learned as a young cricketer from my coaches and executed it. The best reply to them was to win the match and that’s what we did,” he added.

Varma also added that he focused on his batting and winning the game while batting and avoided responding to the Pakistan players.

“We lost three wickets quickly and things were a bit heated up then. I came to bat a bit earlier than normal. But I did not say anything or play a rash shot to let the team and country down. During the match, I was just focusing on my basics; I was not ready to answer them,” he said.

“Whatever I want to tell them, I told them after the match and not when the game was going on. There were a lot of things happening in the middle but I can’t reveal all of them. Those things happen in India vs Pakistan matches and they are part of the game. But our focus was on winning the match,” Varma added.

Notably, the left-handed batter roared on the field after winning the game for India. The Men in Blue crushed Pakistan on all three occasions during the tournament. They were unbeaten in the tournament, winning seven games in a row. Abhishek Sharma, who finished as the leading run-scorer in the campaign with 314 runs, was awarded Player of the Tournament.

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