A tournament dominated by hostility over Indian players opting out of handshakes, and Pakistan ones miming gunshots, was decided when the latter shot themselves in the foot to place the trophy in the hands of the former.
The best that could be said for Pakistan was that they battled hard with the ball and in the field, taking the game to its final over. But it was not enough to remedy the batting implosion which cost them any realistic hopes of an upset.
As it was, Tilak Varma, the 22-year-old left-hander, showed the coolness required to complete India’s defence of the Asia Cup title - although the previous edition was in the 50-over format.
Varma finished unbeaten on 69 off 53 balls as India closed out a five-wicket win over their neighbours in front of a frenzied crowd at the Dubai International Stadium while chasing a tricky target of 147.
Any hopes that the ill-feeling that preceded the final might dissipate at the last were fanciful. Ahead of the toss, the antagonism had reached the point that each captain only conducted an interview with a commentator of their own nationality.
Suryakumar Yadav and Salman Agha did not acknowledge each other, let alone shake hands. Suryakumar won the flip of the coin, then pronounced to Ravi Shastri, the Indian commentator, that his side would bowl.
After talking through some standard pre-game fare, the Indian captain then headed back to his team, leaving Agha to his interview, which was conducted by Waqar Younis, the former Pakistan fast bowler.
Even Jasprit Bumrah, who is usually the smiling, silent assassin of the Indian bowling attack, was moved to chirp. He had words for Sahibzada Farhan, and the Pakistan opener bit back.
Farhan has enjoyed the better of that battle over the past two games, though. He made a second successive half century against India in this Asia Cup, and was on his best behaviour when celebrating it.
He had been warned by Richie Richardson, the ICC match referee, for toasting his previous milestone against the same opposition by pretending to use his bat as a rifle.
This time round, he went for the more widely accepted option of showing his sponsors’ logo to the cameras.
While he and Fakhar Zaman were at the wicket, Pakistan looked to be constructing a genuinely challenging total for once.
India were desperate to part them, and their luck was in when Farhan holed out to deep mid-wicket off Varun Chakaravarthy. He made 57 from 38 balls, and Pakistan were on 84 in the 10th over at that point.
What followed was the sort of implosion that Pakistan specialise in – yet still needed to be seen to be believed. Amid a rash of crazy shots, they lost all 10 wickets for 61 runs, ended up bowled out for 146 with five balls left unused.
As the game seemed to be tilting inexorably towards India, the animosity resurfaced. First, when Pakistan were mid-collapse on 130-4, Suryakumar appealed for obstructing the field against Agha.
The Pakistan captain had been completing a two when the ball hit him, prompting his opposite number to enquire about a dismissal. The TV replay showed Agha had no case to answer.
Not that he made much of his stay. Pakistan’s captain was the most culpable player in his side’s batting demise, mindlessly chipping up catch off Kuldeep Yadav when on just eight.
Kuldeep, so often the tormentor of Pakistan, profited most from their implosion, taking 4-30, including three wickets in his final over.
Pakistan were at least 40 runs short of where they would have expected to be after the start they made. Early wickets was what they needed to stand a chance, and they got precisely that.
India were 20-3 after four overs of the chase, with their three big batting stars – Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar and Shubman Gill – all falling cheaply.
Just to add to the narrative, two of the catches were taken by Haris Rauf, the player who been at the centre of most of the drama in the last meeting of the two sides.
He was fined for appearing to gesture to Indian fans about the downing of jets in the game a week earlier. When he took the catch which dismissed Gill, he set about running around the outfield with his arms out, as if he was about to take flight.
It took Varma and Sanju Samson, two players who have been light on time in the middle in this tournament, to settle the defending champions’ nerves.
Cautiously, they took India to 77-3 before Samson fell to Abrar Ahmed. Again, there was angst: umpire Masudur Rahman took Abrar out of the Pakistan huddle celebrating the wicket, and had words with him. The bowler had followed Samson at close quarters after sending him on his way.
With Samson gone, Varma took the responsibility on himself. He was assisted by a fine cameo of 33 from 22 balls from Shivam Dube.
Dube went with 10 still to get from the last over. Varma was good enough to see his side through, launching a six into the stands off the second ball off Rauf which all but decided it.
The Vile
Starring: Bdoor Mohammad, Jasem Alkharraz, Iman Tarik, Sarah Taibah
Director: Majid Al Ansari
Rating: 4/5
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: seven-speed
Power: 720hp
Torque: 770Nm
Price: Dh1,100,000
On sale: now
Read more from Aya Iskandarani
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The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
The%20Hunger%20Games%3A%20The%20Ballad%20of%20Songbirds%20%26%20Snakes
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%C2%A0Francis%20Lawrence%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%C2%A0%3C%2Fstrong%3ERachel%20Zegler%2C%20Peter%20Dinklage%2C%20Viola%20Davis%2C%20Tom%20Blyth%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E3%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Types of fraud
Phishing: Fraudsters send an unsolicited email that appears to be from a financial institution or online retailer. The hoax email requests that you provide sensitive information, often by clicking on to a link leading to a fake website.
Smishing: The SMS equivalent of phishing. Fraudsters falsify the telephone number through “text spoofing,” so that it appears to be a genuine text from the bank.
Vishing: The telephone equivalent of phishing and smishing. Fraudsters may pose as bank staff, police or government officials. They may persuade the consumer to transfer money or divulge personal information.
SIM swap: Fraudsters duplicate the SIM of your mobile number without your knowledge or authorisation, allowing them to conduct financial transactions with your bank.
Identity theft: Someone illegally obtains your confidential information, through various ways, such as theft of your wallet, bank and utility bill statements, computer intrusion and social networks.
Prize scams: Fraudsters claiming to be authorised representatives from well-known organisations (such as Etisalat, du, Dubai Shopping Festival, Expo2020, Lulu Hypermarket etc) contact victims to tell them they have won a cash prize and request them to share confidential banking details to transfer the prize money.
* Nada El Sawy
Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
Polarised public
31% in UK say BBC is biased to left-wing views
19% in UK say BBC is biased to right-wing views
19% in UK say BBC is not biased at all
Source: YouGov
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Results
6.30pm: The Madjani Stakes (PA) Group 3 Dh175,000 (Dirt) 1,900m
Winner: Aatebat Al Khalediah, Fernando Jara (jockey), Ali Rashid Al Raihe (trainer).
7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Down On Da Bayou, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer.
7.40pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Dubai Avenue, Fernando Jara, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
8.15pm: Handicap (TB) Dh190,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: My Catch, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
8.50pm: Dubai Creek Mile (TB) Listed Dh265,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Secret Ambition, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar.
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) Dh190,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Golden Goal, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECreator%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESteven%20Knight%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%C2%A0%3C%2Fstrong%3EMark%20Ruffalo%2C%20Hugh%20Laurie%2C%20Aria%20Mia%20Loberti%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E1%2F5%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
Innotech Profile
Date started: 2013
Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari
Based: Muscat, Oman
Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies
Size: 15 full-time employees
Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing
Investors: Oman Technology Fund from 2017 to 2019, exited through an agreement with a new investor to secure new funding that it under negotiation right now.
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
PROFILE OF INVYGO
Started: 2018
Founders: Eslam Hussein and Pulkit Ganjoo
Based: Dubai
Sector: Transport
Size: 9 employees
Investment: $1,275,000
Investors: Class 5 Global, Equitrust, Gulf Islamic Investments, Kairos K50 and William Zeqiri
Afro%20salons
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