Pakistan captain Salman Agha is confident of avenging their previous losses against India in the Asia Cup 2025 final. Pakistan qualified for the Asia Cup final with an 11-run victory over Bangladesh in their last Super 4 fixture on Thursday, September 25 at Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
As a result, India and Pakistan are set to meet for the third time in the Asia Cup 2025, having previously played against each other in the group and Super 4 stage. Ahead of the third clash against the arch-rivals, Pakistan captain expressed confidence in his men to turn the tables in the summit clash reiterating that they can beat anyone.
“If you win these kind of games, then we must be a special team. Everyone played really well. There is some improvement needed in batting. But we will work on that. We are a good enough team to beat anyone. We will come back on Sunday and try and do that,” said Agha in the post-match presentation.
Asia Cup 2025: Pakistan vs Bangladesh Highlights
Furthermore, he also praised his bowlers for creating pressure on Bangladesh right from ball one while defending a small total.
“Shaheen is a special player. He does what the team needs of him. Very happy for him. We were 15 runs short. The way we bowled up front, we created pressure. We bowled well with the new ball. More often than not you will win games if you bowl like this. We have been fielding well. Shane has been working hard on us. We have been having extra sessions. Mike Hesson said if you can’t field, you won’t be in the team,” he added.
Pakistan could only score 135/8 in their allotted 20 overs as Taskin Ahmed (3/28), Rishad Hossain (2/18) and Mahedi Hasan (2/28) ran through their batting. Valuable contributions from Mohammad Haris (31 off 23) and Mohammad Nawaz (25 off 15) helped their team post 135 on the board.
In reply, Shaheen Afridi (3/17), Haris Rauf (3/33) and Saim Ayub (2/16) hunted in a pack to restrict Bangladesh to 124/9, with Shamim Hossain top-scoring with 30 (25). Meanwhile, Pakistan and India will meet in the Asia Cup final for the first time in the 41-year-long history of the tournament. The two teams last played in a tournament final in 2017 during the Champions Trophy 2017, where Pakistan beat India by 180 runs.
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