‘Incredible!’ Sanjay Manjrekar Reveals Why PAK Will Surprise IND In 2025 Asia Cup | Cricket News

Sanjay Manjrekar believes that Pakistan’s new spin-heavy combination could surprise India in Sunday’s clash in the 2025 Asia Cup. The former India opener found it ‘incredible’ that new Men in Green head coach Mike Hesson is ‘making the most of the resources’, including the part-time spinners like Saim Ayub.

In their first match of the tournament, against Oman in Dubai, they fielded just one specialist pacer in Shaheen Shah Afridi alongside five spinners. Ayub, who is an opener and never bowled much before the Hesson era, picked up the first two Omani wickets, hurling a nice mix of leg spin and off-spin.

Slowly, Salman Agha (who can bowl spin, too, but didn’t use himself), then slowly started to use the remaining spin options, who folded out the batting lineup for just 67 runs, securing a 93-run victory.

“I like this bowling combination because it’s India vs Pakistan, and I feel this attack might give the Indian batters something different to think about,” Manjrekar said on Sony Sports Network. “They’ve played Pakistan in world events before, but usually against a certain kind of attack. This is completely different — hardly any pace on show — and maybe Wasim [Akram] would hate it.”

“Batting will need a little improvement against India, but credit to Mike Hesson for making the most of the resources he has. Saim Ayub has hardly bowled for Pakistan in the past, but under Hesson, he’s bowled in almost 90% of the innings. This shows a new approach, and that’s exciting because it’s refreshing to see Pakistan try something different. Can you imagine the first six or eight overs? Just two overs of pace, and the rest were all spin. Incredible.”

India also did something similar against the UAE but not to Pakistan’s extent: Jasprit Bumrah was the only specialist pacer with two frontline spinners in Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakaravarthy alongside three all-rounders in Hardik Pandya (pace), Shuvam Dube (pace) and Axar Patel (spin).