Sawt Falasteen - Kuldeep helps India bowl out Pakistan for 146 in Asia Cup final

The two neighbours came into the title clash with tensions high from their previous two clashes in the competition, which witnessed political posturing and aggressive on-field behaviour at the same venue in Dubai.

Pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah raised the heat when he bowled Haris Rauf for six and made a gesture similar to the one the Pakistan bowler had done to the crowd in the previous meeting between the two teams.

Put in to bat after no handshakes in the toss, Pakistan started strongly as openers Sahibzada Farhan, who made 57, and Fakhar Zaman, who made 46, put on 84 runs but the team slipped from 113-1 to be bowled out in 19.1 overs.

Farhan fell after his second fifty in this edition of the regional tournament played in the T20 format after the batter attempted a second successive six off spinner Varun Chakravarthy.

Zaman took charge and along with Saim Ayub kept up the attack with regular boundaries until Kuldeep struck in the 13th over.

Ayub fell to Kuldeep's left-arm wrist spin as Pakistan lost six wickets for 21 runs.

Zaman fell short of his fifty and Kuldeep struck with three wickets in the 17th over, including skipper Salman Agha for eight.

Bumrah got Rauf and then Mohammad Nawaz to wrap up the innings in 19.1 overs.

Defending champions India and Pakistan are playing a final in the Asia Cup for the first time in the tournament's 41-year history.

India and Pakistan met earlier in the competition for the first time after deadly fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours, who have not played a bilateral series in over a decade.

The two only meet in multi-nation tournaments at neutral venues as part of a compromise deal.

India comfortably won both their games in the tournament, but in the Super Four clash Farhan mimicked a gun celebration after his half-century.

Rauf made gestures appearing to mock India's military action during the four-day border conflict in May that left more than 70 people dead.

In the group match, India skipper Suryakumar Yadav had refused to shake hands with Pakistan counterpart Agha and the two teams kept up the stance in the second match.

The Asia Cup is widely seen as a dress rehearsal for the T20 World Cup to be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka in February-March of next year.

H.Nasr--SF-PST