Pakistan faced a humiliating seven-wicket defeat against India in their Asia Cup 2025, Group A match in Dubai on Sunday. The match, which was already very controversial due to the boycott calls from Indian fans, saw Suryakumar Yadav and co completely dominating the proceedings. Opting to bat first, Pakistan were restricted to 127/9 in 20 overs with spinner Kuldeep Yadav taking three wickets. Later, India chased down the target in just 15.5 overs after skipper Suryakumar Yadav remained unbeaten at 47.
It was a totally poor outing from Pakistan as their batters miserably failed to put up a fight against India’s bowling lineup. Only Sahibzada Farhan and Shaheen Afridi scored 44 and 33 runs respectively while the batters could not even cross the 15-run mark.
Speaking after the match, former Pakistan pacer Wasim Akram slammed Salman Ali Agha and co for not properly reading Kuldeep Yadav’s action and going for a sweep shot against him.
“It’s just the way he bowls. They can’t read him. In the pre-show, I was talking to Sunny bhai, who was a great batter. He said ‘unless and until you can read him from the hand, you won’t be able to understand that type of bowling’. So that’s what happened. When they sweep against Kuldeep every second ball, it means you are not reading him,” Akram said on Sony Sports.
Akram further expressed disappointment over the failure of Hasan Nawaz, Salman Ali Agha against Indian spinners.
“Pakistan played 63 dot balls in their innings – that’s just over 10 overs of dots. Credit to the Indian bowlers. It’s sad to see players like Hasan Nawaz, Haris and our captain; they are talented players. But you need to pick your bowlers, read the situation. They were all chasing a strike rate of 150,” said Akram.
Apart from Suryakumar, Abhishek Sharma scored 31 off 13 balls while Tilak Varma also scored 31 runs.