With a 41-run victory over Bangladesh, India cruised into the final match of the 2025 Asia Cup with a game to spare.
Before Kuldeep Yadav picked up 3-18, opener Abhishek Sharma’s 75 off 37 balls led his team’s total of 168-6.
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In response to Bangladesh’s decision to field first in the match on Wednesday, Sharma scored five sixes in his fourth T20 half-century.
Hardik Pandya scored 38 balls in 29 balls after India’s middle-order struggled, but the overall result appeared to be nothing more than a par effort on a slow wicket at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
Saif Hassan’s fourth T20 half-century gave Bangladesh a 127-run lead in reply. His team chased a target similar to the one that gave them the victory over Sri Lanka on Saturday, but he couldn’t add it to their 69 of 51 balls.
India’s fielding had the advantage of a much larger margin of victory, but with five dropped catches, dominant displays from Sharma and their spinners had the advantage of a final spot.
India reached the T20 final of the Asia Cup for the second time in 2016, beating Bangladesh in the previous year.
Tanzim Hasan Sakib from Bangladesh is bowled out by Kuldeep Yadav from India [Altaf Qadri/AP]
On Thursday, Bangladesh will face Pakistan in the same venue to decide who will advance. Sri Lanka was declared a winner thanks to India’s victory.
The Indian openers started slowly but quickly soared to a new high with 21 runs in the fourth over, and Sharma-Gill added 77 runs from 38 balls for the first wicket.
Gill scored 29 balls with two sixes on the powerplay, which ended up 72-0. Rishad Hossain caught him long off in the seventh over, and he fell.
India were down to 83-2 in 8.1 overs when promoted Shivam Dube was caught doing the same.
Sharma, who belted sixes effortlessly against both spinners and pacers, won the match for the second half-century in a row off 25 balls.
Even though Suryakumar Yadav, the team’s skipper, only contributed four runs, India made it 100 before the halfway point when Sharma recorded 29 off 18 balls for the third wicket.
The 12th over saw the opener run out after Sharma had already made a good stop and was stranded midway. Five balls later, Yadav was out for five as India lost all hope at 114-4.
Shubman Gill of India takes a shot during the Altaf Qadri/AP Asia Cup game at Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
Pandya helped India push past 150 in the 18th over by putting together a fruitful partnership with the lower-middle-order. With Axar Patel, who scored 10 not out, he added 39 off 33 balls and four fours with a six.
India only managed four runs in the final over, which shortened an intended 180 target, despite the available wickets.
When Tanzid Hassan was dismissed for one, Jasprit Bumrah gave India’s bowlers a strong start. Things changed as soon as India deployed its spinners, who all scored in their first innings, with Saif Hassan and Parvez Emon putting on 42 off 30 balls to re-start the chase.
Emon was thrown back at square leg for 21 off 19 balls by Kuldeep Yadav. Shamim Hossain was then bowled by Vasut Chakravarthy for a three-ball duck. As Bangladesh fell to 74-4 in 10.4 overs, Patel caught Towhid Hridoy for seven in the middle.
Any chance of a turnaround was thwarted when Suryakumar Yadav’s attempt to defeat Jaker Ali was defeated in the thirteenth over.
Saif Hassan, however, struggled to score off three fours and six sixes to reach his second half-century in a row. Along the way, he was let down by Indian fielders on 40, 60, 65, and 69.
In his first speech before the UN General Assembly, Ahmed al-Sharaa, the interim leader of Syria and the first head of state to address the gathering in nearly 60 years, he called for the lifting of international sanctions.
On Wednesday, al-Sharaa told world leaders that his country’s story was “filled with emotions, and it mixes pain with hope,” and that “Syria is reclaiming its rightful place among the nations of the world.”
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He continued, “The Syrian story is a story of conflict between good and evil.” We have endured oppression, deprivation, and injustice for many years. Then, we rose up and proclaimed our honor. ”
Syrians from all over the country gathered to hear al-Sharaa’s speech.
The first time a Syrian leader of state addresses the UN General Assembly in almost 60 years was witnessed by a crowd in front of large screens, according to Abdullah Okaily, a journalist from Damascus.
We can’t deny Syria’s celebratory atmosphere and moment in various cities right now.
You can hear the fireworks coming from behind us, I tell you. After years of suffering and isolation, Syria is returning to the international community. ”
Al-Sharaa led opposition fighters to the ouster of Bashar al-Assad, putting an end to his family’s five-decade rule, in January, bringing his family to power. Al-Sharaa outlined steps taken in his speech in the months since, including establishing new institutions, organizing elections, and encouraging foreign investment.
We now demand that sanctions be lifted completely, so that the Syrian people can no longer be shackled, he said.
In July, the US removed the Syrian-led organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which al-Sharaa led, from its list of “foreign terrorist organizations,” as a result of a change in policy toward post-Assad Syria.
Al-Sharaa has since launched what some have referred to as a diplomatic charm offensive.
In May, he met French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, and he and President Donald Trump met in Riyadh for a meeting. Trump made a pledge to lift sanctions against Syria during his state visit to Saudi Arabia. Following a decade-long wait, Trump signed an executive order to lift the sanctions.
Members of Congress are currently debating whether to repeal the Caesar Syria Civil Protection Act, which was passed to impose US sanctions on Damascus.
Al-Sharaa met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other officials while in New York. He also addressed the annual UN assembly, a global forum called the Concordia Annual Summit.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa is delivering a speech at the UN on September 24, 2025, as a crowd of children in Damascus watches a broadcast from Syria.
Israeli strikes are condemned.
Since he took over in January, the Syrian leader has condemned Israeli attacks on his nation. Al-Sharaa stated in his address that Israel continues to attack and strike its country despite the reforms that his government has attempted to control. ”
He argued that Israel’s actions contradict the Syrian government’s international support, saying they “threaten new crises and struggles in our region.”
But he also stated that his country is still committed to dialogue.
In response to this aggression, Syria is “committed to dialogue,” according to him, and we are also “committed to the Disengagement of Forces Agreement of 1974,” as well as the international community.
Israel and Syria have been at odds with one another for decades, with tensions stemming from Israel’s 1967 occupation of the Golan Heights. Since al-Assad’s fall, Israel has launched more than 1,000 strikes on Syrian territory.
Israel and Syria were close to reaching a “de-escalation” agreement, according to US special envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack said on Tuesday.
In exchange for Syria agreeing not to move heavy equipment close to Israel’s borders, the agreement would require Israel to halt its cross-border attacks.
Solidarity with Gaza
At the forefront of the General Assembly’s discussion was Israel’s war against Gaza, and al-Sharaa praised Palestinians, claiming Syria remained “steady with the people of Gaza, its children and women, and all peoples who are at risk of being violated and abused.”
He addressed the assembly, “We call for the war to end right away.”
Finland’s Alexander Stubb, president of the 80th UNGA, stated that the post-Cold War era is over and that a new world order is emerging with power shifting “to the south and the east” and rising “to the south and the east” with important economic, political, and cultural forces rising.
