Destiny brought Pakistan and India face to face in the Asia Cup 2025 final, a rematch that hadn’t occurred in 41 years. This high stakes encounter gave Pakistan a golden opportunity to avenge their previous two defeats at the hands of their arch rivals. Amidst the controversy surrounding their last two encounters and the simmering political tensions between the two nations, the final was heavily hyped. Pakistan dominated the game initially, but a sudden shift in momentum favored India, resulting in yet another heartbreaking loss for Pakistan in the final Asia Cup 2025. The curse of narrow defeats on big stages continued, leaving fans disheartened. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory raises many questions, and following collapses can be the root cause of a humiliating defeat.
Inconsistent Middle Order:
While batting first in the final of Asia Cup 2025, Sahibzada Farhan and Fakhar Zaman gave a fierce start to the innings, playing aggressively. Farhan played with a strike rate of 150, while Fakhar had a strike rate of 131. Both batsmen were building a good opening partnership when the collapse began. Farhan departed in the 9th over, leaving Pakistan at 84-1. This marked the beginning of the downfall, as Pakistan’s run rate, which had been good enough earlier, started to falter. Saim scored just 14 runs, following his tradition of underperforming during the entire Asia Cup 2025 and departed. Later, M. Haris came in and got out on a duck, further highlighting Pakistan’s middle order’s struggle. Fakhar’s wicket proved to be the final nail in the coffin, as after that, Pakistan’s run rate started getting worse. The middle order collectively scored just 24 runs, and the batting lineup collapsed at 146 in 19.1 overs. It was only due to Farhan’s 57 and Fakhar’s 46 that the total reached 146, otherwise, it would have collapsed even before 100.
Haris Rauf’s Poor Economy:
Despite performing well in the previous matches, in the final of the Asia Cup 2025, Rauf was the most expensive bowler. He was giving away runs so frequently, with an economy rate of 13.63, the worst by any Pakistani bowler. His overs cost Pakistan dearly, as in the middle overs, Saim and Abrar somehow managed to tackle the situation when Abrar got Samson’s wicket. However, Rauf’s overs ruined everything. His bowling wasn’t up to the mark. When Faheem took a wicket in the 19th over, Pakistan’s chances of victory increased. Pakistan could have won the match if the last over’s bowling had been good, since the pressure started mounting on India after the 19th over wicket, Rauf kept missing his mark, and Pakistan ended up on the losing side of the Asia Cup 2025 final.
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Poor Captaincy:
It was poor captaincy from Agha’s part as well. At a crucial point when Abrar and Saim were choking the Indian batters and had one over left for each batter, giving the ball to Rauf was a poor option. Rauf conceded 50 runs in 3.4 overs, while the rest of the bowlers collectively conceded 100 runs. Here, Rauf is not the only culprit, Agha also shares the loss equally because he chose Rauf for the death overs despite seeing him struggling in the previous overs.
Read more: Pakistan’s Asia Cup Loss Sparks PCB Crackdown with NOCs Suspensions
Poor Selection:
Looking at M. Haris’s performance since the tri-nation series and even during the whole Asia Cup 2025, it was clear that he didn’t deserve to be in the team; instead, Hassan Nawaz deserved to play. Sahibzada Farhan could have been a wicket keeping option, but the management went with M. Haris, and he failed. Saim’s performance with the bat was nothing, but still, he played. Some justified his selection based on his wicketkeeping skills, he failed even there as well when he missed a straightforward run out chance of Tilak which cost Pakistan another trophy and another match in the Asia Cup 2025!
What’s Next
To overcome such issues, the PCB seriously needs to work on domestic cricket in Pakistan, providing facilities to young talent so that they can make Pakistan proud at the international level.
