Agha rues prioritising Rauf over Abrar in Asia Cup 2025 final loss

KARACHI: Pakistan T20I captain Salman Ali Agha has admitted flaws in his decision-making during the ACC Men's T20 Asia Cup 2025 final setback against arch-rivals India, conceding he should have continued with mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed instead of turning to right-arm speedster Haris Rauf.

Rauf, who returned economical bowling figures of 2/26 against India in the Super Fours stage of the continental tournament, had a contrasting outing against the same opposition in the summit clash as he conceded 50 runs in just 3.4 overs and remained wicketless.

He started his spell after the powerplay and gave away just seven runs despite being hit for a four by Sanju Samson on the third delivery.

The right-arm pacer was brought back into the attack when Pakistan had India under pressure, with the scoreboard reading 83/4 in 14 overs, and failed to continue the momentum in the Green Shirts' favour as he conceded 17 runs in his second over.

He was briefly taken off the attack and was once again brought back to bowl the 18th over, in which he gave away 13 runs, resulting in the equation coming down to 17 runs required off 12 deliveries.

Although fast-bowling all-rounder Faheem Ashraf pulled things back for Pakistan in the penultimate over as he gave away just seven runs and dismissed Indian counterpart Shivam Dube, Rauf could not defend 10 runs off the last over as the Men in Blue chased down the target with two balls to spare.

Reflecting on the gut-wrenching defeat in the first-ever Pakistan-India final of the Asia Cup during a podcast, Agha asserted that had he continued with Abrar, the results could have been different and thus picked it as one decision he would like to change from the blockbuster clash.

"There are a lot of things. One year has passed since I began to captain, and that too in two tournaments. So many mistakes must have happened. If our results weren't good, then mistakes would have happened," said Agha.

"In the Asia Cup final, I decided that if I had continued with Abrar, I never know what would have happened to the result. That is one thing I would like to change," he added.

The Pakistan captain, however, explained that his decision to hand the ball to Rauf was influenced by the pacer's status of being their "main bowler", but rued that he could not execute the plans properly.

"If you see the other side, I gave Haris the ball; he was our main bowler in that match. He couldn't bowl well, couldn't execute his plans properly," Agha noted.

"I feel that if I continue with Abrar, you never know what would have happened to the game," he concluded.