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.
