‘Break India’s Aura’: Shaoib Akhtar’s Unique Advice To Pakistan For Asia Cup Final | Cricket News

Former pacer Shoaib Akhtar has asked Pakistan to break down India’s hawa or wind and aura of the Indian team in the 2025 Asia Cup final. Akhtar said not being intimidated by the top-ranked T20I side would be the most important thing for the Men in Green because it will make India ‘realise’ that they have to ‘fight’.

India won their first five games on the trot. Pakistan joined them on Thursday by beating Bangladesh by 11 runs. However, their journey included two losses, both against India. Salman Agha’s men were comprehensively beaten in the group stage clash by seven wickets, before pushing India close in the Super Four round, though still conceding a six-wicket loss.

“We need to break out of this mindset, break down the hawa (aura) that has been built around the Indian team, and go in with the same attitude we had today against Bangladesh,” Akhtar said on the Game On Hai show on PTV Sports. “Take India on. That’s the kind of attitude you need. And please remember we don’t need to go in thinking we have to bowl 20 overs. No! We need to get them out. When you go out to get them out, even India will realize they have to fight to score runs and that they won’t get any free runs,” he added.

“Pakistan has to move beyond this, forget about India being the number one team. We have the number one fast bowler in Shaheen Shah Afridi, and Haris Rauf is as quick as anyone in the world today. So there’s no issue if you go in with this attitude,” he added.

Akhtar added that Gautam Gambhir will tell India not to take Pakistan lightly because they can bring their best game in the biggest matches.

“Look, no matter how India plays, Gautam, who played with us, will tell them ‘Is team ka aitbaar nahi’ (You can’t trust this team to always play badly). You’re going to have to bring your A-game against Pakistan because they can turn things around at any minute. And now against Bangladesh they have. Pakistan plays the worst cricket, they pick the worst side, but the minute the final comes, they play the best cricket and they win the final. How many times has this happened with the Pakistan team? I think that’s exactly what they’ll do.”