Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha speaks on the captains’ press convention forward of the Asia Cup 2025 on the Dubai Worldwide Cricket Stadium in Dubai on September 9, 2025. — ACC
Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha conceded that his facet’s batting collapse proved decisive of their defeat to India within the ACC Males’s T20 Asia Cup 2025 closing, regardless of what he described as an “outstanding” bowling efficiency.
Put into bat first, the opening pair of Sahibzada Farhan and Fakhar Zaman gave Pakistan a flamboyant begin by placing collectively 84 runs forward of the midway mark.
Prime-ranked T20I batter Varun Chakaravarthy gave India their first breakthrough within the tenth over by dismissing Farhan, who remained the top-scorer with 57 off 38 deliveries, smashing 5 fours and three sixes.
Regardless of Farhan’s dismissal, Pakistan had been in an honest place as that they had reached 113/1 in 12.4 overs earlier than Kuldeep Yadav despatched left-handed batter Saim Ayub (14) again.
His dismissal sparked a match-defining collapse, which noticed Pakistan lose their remaining eight wickets for simply 33 runs in 38 balls and had been in the end bowled out for a meagre 146 in 19.1 overs.
Talking on the post-match presentation, Pakistan captain Agha rued their incapability to attain sufficient runs earlier than hinting at an overhaul within the division.
“It is a tough pill to swallow right now. We lost wickets while batting, we were outstanding with the ball but didn’t have enough runs on the board,” Agha mentioned.
“We didn’t rotate strike and lost too many wickets. We have to sort out our batting very soon,” he added.
Regardless of defending a modest complete, Pakistan’s bowling unit made India do exhausting yards to chase down the full as they conceded 19.4 overs and misplaced 5 wickets within the course of.
Pakistan had been particularly deadly firstly of the second innings, with Faheem Ashraf and Shaheen Shah Afridi collectively decreasing the Males in Blue to twenty/3 in 4 overs by dismissing in-form Abhishek Sharma (5), skipper Suryakumar Yadav (one) and Shubman Gill (12) cheaply.
Though a gutsy knock by middle-order batter Tilak Varma finally led India to the title victory, Agha applauded his facet’s bowling assault for displaying grit.
“They bowled outstandingly well, they (India) needed 63 from 6 overs and I thought we had the game. But the batting was what cost us the game,” Agha continued.
The Pakistan captain concluded by expressing pleasure in his workforce earlier than vowing to work exhausting and make a robust comeback.
“I am very proud of the team, and there is so much to look forward to, we will work hard and come back stronger.”
