Follow UsFormer Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi has expressed his dissatisfaction with the quality of cricket being played by Salman Ali Agha and his team in the ongoing Asia Cup 2025. Afridi feels that if this level of performance is acceptable, Pakistan shouldn’t have dropped Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan from the T20I setup.
Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson has openly criticised Babar and Rizwan’s strike rates, urging them to improve their boundary-hitting, particularly against spin.
Meanwhile, Agha has repeatedly emphasised the goal of adopting an “aggressive brand of cricket,” but that hasn’t really materialised in the Asia Cup. Even his own performances have been underwhelming. Players like Fakhar Zaman, Sahibzada Farhan, Hussain Talat, Hasan Nawaz, and Saim Ayub have all maintained strike rates below 120.
“Agar isse Tarah khelna hai toh Babar ko bhi hona chahiye tha, Rizwan ko bhi hona chahiye tha (If this is how you meant to play, Babar-Rizwan should also have been part of the squad). When they are around they are taken for granted, this is Pakistan cricket’s problem," Afridi said while speaking to a journalist in Pakistan, as reported by News18.
Afridi also feels Pakistan are missing the presence of Naseem Shah, who could have been crucial in Dubai. “Naseem Shah ko Maine bahut miss kiya, jiss Tarah se condition thi, mere saath me shaheen ke saath Naseem ka pair outstanding perform karta (I missed Naseem a lot. I think he and Shaheen would have been an outstanding pair).
“The way the team is playing, it is not upto the level. You can beat Sri Lanka and Oman, but in a final against India, you have to be top-notch in all three sectors.”
Pakistan have already lost twice against India in the Asia Cup 2025 but have won all their other matches. While they were heavily beaten in their opening game against India, they showed some fight in the Super Fours stage.
Posting 171/5 in their 20 overs, Pakistan pushed India deep into the game despite a 105-run opening stand between Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill in just 9.5 overs, taking the match to the penultimate over.