Salman Ali Agha goes on the offensive, issues warning to India ahead of Asia Cup 2025 final: ‘We will be looking to…’

Salman Ali Agha appeared confident about facing India in the final of the Asia Cup 2025.

The 2025 edition is the 17th one of the Asia Cup. The tournament has never seen India and Pakistan in the summit clash before. It will be the first time that the two Asian giants will take on each other in a finale of Asia Cup at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on September 28.

Pakistan's captain Salman Ali Agha looks on after his team. (AFP)

The Salman Ali Agha-led side have outdone themselves in a virtual semi-final against Bangladesh as they book their berth in Sunday’s final. The team will now be keen to exact revenge on their arch-rivals, India for their dual defeat, once in the group stage and once in the Super Fours.

The Pakistan unit is confident of their performance in the final and it was reflected in Salman Agha’s statement after the game. When asked about how he feels about playing India in the finals on Sunday, Salman said, “We are really settled. We are a good enough team to beat anyone. We are excited and we will be looking to beat them in the final.”

Pakistan won the match will brilliant bowling and fielding

Talking about the match, Bangladesh won the toss and put Pakistan to bat ahead of the game. Bangladesh made a brilliant start to the game by picking up the wicket of Sahibzada Farhan early in the innings. It was the wicket of their inform opener, and that rocked them in their batting. The Bangladesh bowlers kept a stranglehold on the Pakistan batters and did not let them off the hook.

After the end of the powerplay, the Bangladesh spinners started picking up wickets in regular intervals and tilting the game in their favor. Pakistan batting looked clueless and they were quickly fading away from the game. However, towards the end of the innings, the Pakistan lower order put up a fight and they were able to have a fighting score on the board.

Bangladesh would have been quietly confident about chasing down 135 runs in their 20 overs. However, Shaheen Afridi decided to step up on the important night. He gave Pakistan the exact start they needed and provided them with an early wicket. He followed it up with another strike in the powerplay and putting Bangladesh under pressure. Haris Rauf joined the party and Bangladesh were struggling after being three down inside the powerplay.

After the three early blows, Bangladesh were never able to comeback. Shamim Hossain was the only batter, who showed some resilience scoring 30 runs off 25 deliveries. However, it was not at all enough to get them even close to the target. In the end, Bangladesh managed 124/9 at the end of 20 overs losing the match by 11 runs.