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Irfan Pathan warns India to be cautious of Afghanistan in the 2025 Asia Cup due to Dubai’s slow tracks favoring Afghan bowlers.
Suryakumar Yadav will captain India at the 2025 Asia Cup
Irfan Pathan believes that more than rivals Pakistan, India needs to be wary of Afghanistan in the 2025 Asia Cup, because the slow tracks in Dubai could be quite helpful for their bowlers. Pathan believes that Pakistan would be vulnerable because they are still in the transitional phase, which is not the case with the Afghans.
India are in the same group as Pakistan, UAE and Oman in the tournament, which begins on September 9. They’ll play the three teams once each and will need to finish top-two in the group to qualify for the Super-Four stage. Afghanistan, which are in the other group comprising Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Hong Kong, will need to do the same and only then would India and Rashid Khan’s men can face each other.
“I think if [there’s] any team that India needs to be wary of, that’s Afghanistan,” Pathan said in a media interaction organised by Sony Sports. “If they find slow pitches, you know, their bowlers can be very, very handy. Pakistan, I still think, you know, they’re still trying to regroup their team, they’re looking for the leadership, they’re looking for the guys who can play the top-order roles consistently,” he added.
Pathan was originally asked if India’s lack of T20I exposure in recent months — most squad members are either coming off a break or red-ball cricket stints — could work against them. But the former cricketer said the emergence of Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru (previously called the NCA) has changed things.
“I feel that nowadays Indian cricketers, they always stay in touch of the game because there’s a nice connection between the players and the NCA. See, there are contracted players; they can go to NCA at any point in time whenever they want to prepare. They can have fitness tests. Just recently, there was a fitness test as well in the NCA, and at the same time, you can go and practice, and you can prepare yourself,” Pathan said.
“You will have match simulations, and there are coaches there throughout the whole year. So those preparations, I’m not worried about. I think the Indian cricket team is at the level where even if we are slightly undercooked, that might play some part at the start of the tournament. But as the tournament progresses, I don’t think there should be an issue,” he added.
India’s first match of the tournament is on September 10, against the UAE.
Watch the highly anticipated Asia Cup 2025 starting from 9th September on Sony Sports Ten 1, Sony Sports Ten 5, Sony Sports Ten 3 Hindi, Sony Sports Ten 4 Tamil & Sony Sports Ten 4 Telugu channels
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