Asia Cup 2025: Fans praise Shaheen Afridi’s cameo against India

DUBAI: Left-arm pacer Shaheen Afridi showcased his batting prowess with a crucial cameo when Pakistan were in deep trouble against India during the first innings of the ACC Men’s T20 Asia Cup 2025 clash at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

Batting first, Pakistan managed 127-9 in their allotted 20 overs, largely thanks to Shaheen’s quick-fire 33 off just 16 deliveries, studded with four towering sixes. 

He found brief support from Sufiyan Muqeem, who chipped in with a valuable 10 off six balls. Their contributions proved vital after Pakistan slumped to 97-8 in 17.4 overs.

Fans took to social media platform X to applaud Shaheen’s effort, hailing his counterattack as the turning point that gave Pakistan a defendable total.

Earlier, skipper Salman Ali Agha’s decision to bat first backfired as Pakistan’s batting lineup faltered under relentless Indian bowling. 

The Green Shirts suffered an early collapse, losing openers Saim Ayub (0) and Mohammad Haris (3) to Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah, respectively, with only six runs on the board in the first two overs.

Sahibzada Farhan and Fakhar Zaman then stitched together a 39-run stand for the third wicket before Axar Patel dismissed Zaman (17) in the eighth over.

The wicket triggered a middle-order collapse, reducing Pakistan to 64-6 by the 13th over.

Farhan, who held the innings together, was finally dismissed in the 17th over off Kuldeep Yadav after scoring a fighting 40 off 44 balls, which included one boundary and three sixes.

Despite the setbacks, Shaheen’s late heroics ensured Pakistan reached a respectable total to challenge their arch-rivals.

Playing XIs

Pakistan: Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Mohammad Haris (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Salman Ali Agha (c), Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem and Abrar Ahmed.

India: Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy and Jasprit Bumrah.