India opened their Asia Cup 2025 Super Four campaign with a bang as they thrashed Pakistan by six wickets at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday (September 21).
Abhishek Sharma led the charge with a blazing 39-ball 74, sharing a fiery 105-run opening stand with Shubman Gill (47 off 28) in 9.5 overs as the Men in Blue chased down 172 with seven deliveries to spare.
This was India’s seventh successive win against Pakistan, and their second versus the arch-rivals in the ongoing continental tournament.
After the match, former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi lauded Team India’s mindset, particularly when it came to chasing.
Afridi felt the “outstanding” Indian team could have easily chased down 200 as well with their “big game” mindset.
“India deserved the victory. Their attitude, mindset, their batting, bowling – I won’t mention their fielding today but overall mindset and they are big-game players,” Afridi said on Samaa TV.
“This is the mindset used by big teams like Australia. You can see that approach. Pakistan made mistakes that added to the result but India are an outstanding team. I think even if they had scored 200, India would have got it,” he added.
Shahid Afridi also slammed the Men in Green for failing to make the most of a strong start. At the halfway mark of their batting innings, Pakistan were 91/1 but they finished with not so imposing 171/5 in their allotted 20 overs on a flat wicket.
According to Afridi, pace spearhead Shaheen Afridi, who has been in good touch with the bat, should have been sent in ahead of someone like Hussain Talat.
“At one point I thought they would reach 190. But after 14-15 overs, for 18 balls you just make 14 runs and including the fact that there was a six in it …that’s an area of worry.
“They could have seen Shaheen in that middle overs phase, or even Haris Rauf. There would have been no issue. If the players lower are in form, then send. You know that Talat is not going to start hitting from the first ball. You could have told Shaheen to go and have a go – lag jaate toh lag jaate (might have connected a few times). That situation was not made for Talat,” he remarked.
Pakistan are now facing a must-win situation in the remaining Super 4 games to stay alive in the Asia Cup 2025. They will take on Sri Lanka in their next match in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday (September 23).
