Pakistan's Salman Agha asks India to come prepared in Asia Cup final

Pakistan captain Salman Agha has hailed his team as 'special' and has fired a timely warning at Team India ahead of the Asia Cup 2025 final between the bitter rivals.

The Men in Green set up a mouthwatering clash with India in the final after beating Bangladesh in a low-scoring game on Thursday (September 25). It was a do-or-die game for both teams, and Pakistan came out on top by 11 runs.

Pakistan crushes Bangladesh in a virtual knockout

Pakistan endured a poor outing with the bat as they could only manage 135/8 in the allotted 20 overs.

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They lost the wickets of Sahibzada Farhan and Saim Ayub inside the first two overs and just could not recover after that. Pakistan kept losing wickets at regular intervals and were reeling at 49/5 in the 11th over.

Pakistan's batting under fire

The likes of Mohammad Haris (31), Shaheen Afridi (19), and Mohammad Nawaz (25) then came up with crucial knocks to guide their team to a respectable and challenging total. For Bangladesh, Taskin Ahmed (3-28) and Mahedi Hasan (2-28) impressed with the ball.

With the bat, Bangladesh also failed to impress and finished their innings on 124/9. They lost three wickets inside the powerplay and just could not recover from those early blows. Shamim Hossain (30) was the only Bangladesh batter to cross the 20-run mark.

Salman Agha fires shots ahead of Asia Cup final

Following the thrilling win over Bangladesh, Salman Agha said that he is confident of avenging their previous losses against India in the Asia Cup 2025 final. The upcoming match will be third meeting between the two teams in the ongoing tournament.

In the previous two meetings, India inflicted heavy defeat on Pakistan and will be the favourites for the upcoming match too. However, Salman Agha is confident of his team's chances in the Asia Cup 2025 final.

"If you win these kind of games, then we must be a special team. Everyone played really well. There is some improvement needed in batting. But we will work on that. We are a good enough team to beat anyone. We will come back on Sunday and try and do that," said Salman Agha in the post-match presentation.

"Shaheen is a special player. He does what the team needs of him. Very happy for him. We were 15 runs short. The way we bowled up front, we created pressure. We bowled well with the new ball."

"More often than not you will win games if you bowl like this. We have been fielding well. Shane has been working hard on us. We have been having extra sessions. Mike Hesson said if you can't field, you won't be in the team," he added.

The final is scheduled to take place on Sunday in Dubai. India will be facing Sri Lanka on Friday in their last Super 4s match before taking on Pakistan.

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