Asia Cup 2025: Pakistan skipper Salman Agha says his side is yet to have the ‘perfect game’ after loss to India

Pakistan captain Salman Agha admitted that his side was 10 to 15 runs short after India made light work of a 172-run target to register a convincing six-wicket win in the Super Four stage of Asia Cup 2025 in Dubai on Sunday.

“It wasn’t a disappointing total, but looking at the way we started in the first 10 overs, we should have scored 10-15 runs more. But after 10 overs, the ball gets soft, and it isn’t easy to bat in these conditions,” Agha said.

After amassing 91 runs in 10 overs, thanks to a bruising PowerPlay, Pakistan could only add 38 runs for the loss of three wickets in the seven overs that followed. The dismissal of well-set batters Saim Ayub and Sahibzada Farhan during this phase also compounded Pakistan’s slowdown.

“On these wickets, it is difficult for a new batter to score runs straightaway. The set batter needs to stay till the end,” Agha said.

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The skipper also explained his decision to send Hussain Talat at No. 4 ahead of himself as a tactical move to counter India’s spin trio.

“Hussain Talat is very good against the spinners. At that point, we tried to maintain the right-left combination to make it difficult for their bowlers,” he said.

However, Talat, who replaced the big-hitting Mohammad Nawaz in the XI, couldn’t make an impact and fell for a tame 11-ball 10 trying to reverse-sweep Kuldeep Yadav.

After a couple of disappointing outings with the bat, Pakistan’s batters stepped up in the PowerPlay, but its bowlers let the team down in the first six overs. Moreover, a couple of dropped catches in the first seven overs didn’t help either, with Abhishek Sharma, who went on to score a match-winning 74, being reprieved on 10 and 46.

Agha acknowledged that his team was yet to have the ‘perfect game’, and with must-win matches against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh scheduled over the next four days, time is running out for Pakistan.

Published on Sep 22, 2025