Follow UsIt is not going to be an easy-peasy affair for the Indian team when they take on their arch-rivals Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2025, which will be played in the T20 format, starting September 9 (Tuesday).
This is thanks to the form that the Pakistan players have shown, especially the batters. Batting is supposed to be Pakistan’s weakest and most inexperienced aspect of their squad for the Asia Cup 2025.
However, in the last two T20Is in the tri-series also featuring Afghanistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the batters of Men in Green have impressed and put India on notice ahead of their mega clash in the Asia Cup group stage, scheduled for September 14 in Dubai.
While it was the skipper, Salman Ali Agha, in the first encounter against Afghanistan with his impressive 36-ball 53*, in the second outing, opener Saim Ayub took the baton from him.
Playing against the UAE on August 30 (Saturday), Ayub scored a blistering fifty, which came off just 25 balls. He then slowed down a bit before getting out for a 38-ball 69. But that was enough to show that the Pakistan unit had moved on from the slow and steady starts of the Babar Azam-Mohammad Rizwan era of opening in the T20s.
More tellingly, this was the third fifty in the last five T20 innings for Ayub, who returned to international cricket after missing the crucial ICC Champions Trophy 2025 at home due to injury.
Apart from Ayub, Hasan Nawaz was in staggering form as well. The 23-year-old hit 26-ball 56 with the help of two fours and six massive sixes, truly underlining the new era of Pakistan batting in T20s.