They will look to expose India’s middle and lower orders, even as Shaheen Afridi will hope for a better outing

Danyal Rasool27-Sep-20251:49

Wahab: Additional pressure on India in the final

A former Pakistan captain, Mohammad Rizwan, once famously said about his team that they “either win or learn”. While there is an inherent truth to that, the quote has taken on a life of its own, weaponised by critics of the national side both within Pakistan and outside it, to lampoon the team when it is undergoing a period of sustained failure.In this Asia Cup, Pakistan have won every game bar the two they played against India. With the sides set to meet for the first time in an Asia Cup final on Sunday, India’s two comprehensive victories over Pakistan mean the best Salman Ali Agha’s team can hope for is focus on the few things they have learned from their defeats.

No room to consolidate

Pakistan have had it drilled into them that the powerplay is a time of maximum aggression. They didn’t lack in intent during the fielding restrictions in either game against India, but invariably, India found a way to tip the Pakistan innings into quicksand. On the first Sunday, it came immediately following the powerplay, with the next four overs producing just seven runs as Pakistan shrank in the face of India’s accurate spinners.Related

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On the following Sunday, Pakistan avoided getting sucked into that void, going after the spinners and scoring 36 runs, including four sixes, in the four overs after the field spread out. However, the wicket of Saim Ayub, followed by some curious decisions in the batting order, resulted in a slowdown following the halfway mark. In the seven overs after drinks, Pakistan scored just 38, the fewest by any side this tournament in that phase. It resulted in what appeared to be a 190-200 total petering out at 171, and India chasing comfortably once more.The final will carry its own pressure, but that does not detract from Pakistan’s goal; if they are setting a target, they will have to go all out all the time. It is what makes their task so unenviably hard, but as the previous two games have shown, no other path leads to victory.

India’s soft underbelly

Pakistan didn’t get to go too deep into India’s batting order in either of the games, as almost all the damage India did to Pakistan occurred at the top. This has been a recurring theme in almost all of India’s matches, which means No. 6 and lower have had limited exposure in this Asia Cup.More intriguingly, what little time the lower order spent at the crease hasn’t been nearly as explosive as their upper-order counterparts. In the Super Fours, India slowed down in each of the three games once the top order was gone. Against Bangladesh, the last nine overs produced 56 runs, with just one player outside the openers registering a strike rate over 100. The fall of the third wicket, that of Abhishek Sharma against Pakistan, caused India to slow down in pursuit of 174, with the next 28 balls producing just 30 runs.An off day for India’s openers could pose a problem for them•AFP/Getty ImagesSpanning out across all teams, India’s batters from Nos. 6-11 have faced the fewest deliveries among the five Full Member teams this tournament. Notably, they have also been the slowest scorers among those five sides, with a strike rate of 110.58.Pakistan, meanwhile, are the second-fastest at 142.48. Their last six batters have also, by far, faced the most deliveries – nearly three times India’s number. While that is down at least partially to misfiring openers, Pakistan will draw hope from a belief that an off day for India’s openers represents a much bigger problem for them than a similar failure for Pakistan’s own openers.

Shaheen Afridi vs India

Afridi has grown into this tournament. He took three wickets in each of the last two games, both must-win matches for Pakistan. Agha kept Afridi on for three overs in the powerplay in those two games, and he took that once customary first-over wicket both times. Afridi is now the joint second-highest wicket-taker in this Asia Cup.None of his nine wickets, though, have come against India, who have smashed 63 runs off his 5.5 overs across two games. In fact, since that famous Player-of-the-Match performance in Pakistan’s ten-wicket victory over India at the 2021 T20 World Cup, Afridi against India has been cannon fodder, with just one wicket in nearly 14 overs across four matches.In T20Is against India, Shaheen Afridi has just four wickets at 39.25•Getty ImagesEven including his performance in that famous victory in Dubai, where he took 3 for 31 – that featured the early wickets of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul – Afridi’s T20I figures against India make for grim reading, with four wickets at 39.25. Afridi has a worse strike rate and average against India than against any other side he has played at least twice, and his economy rate of 8.80 is the second worst – just behind the 9.06 he has against Australia.These numbers from their frontline fast bowler are not conducive to Pakistan’s chances of an upset in the Asia Cup final. This is particularly true due to India’s reliance on their openers, and their tendency to fly to fast starts. In the two games this tournament, Abhishek hit Afridi for a four and a six off his first two balls in the group game, and a first-ball six in the Super Fours. Whether Afridi can keep his streak of first-over wickets alive might prove crucial to Pakistan’s hopes.

The pressure isn’t on Pakistan

This is perhaps the most vital thing those two matches should teach Pakistan. India have been curiously eager to take the pressure off Pakistan, with captain Suryakumar Yadav suggesting that recent results meant India vs Pakistan wasn’t even a rivalry anymore. On some level, this is obviously not true; an India-Pakistan rivalry has never been contingent on specific merits or weaknesses of their on-field ability, with each side enjoying extended dominance across history without diminishing the game’s status. But on another, India have demonstrated that if they bring their best, there is little Pakistan can do to live with them.6:02

How did Pakistan go from being pioneers to falling behind in T20 cricket?

Perhaps the second game showcased this more than the first. Pakistan played close to the kind of game they were hoping to play. India were sloppy in the field, dropping several catches. Jasprit Bumrah went for more runs in the powerplay than he ever has, and the spinners copped punishment immediately after. And still India won with relative comfort.Pakistan are searching for an upset, not looking to complete a journey they have inexorably been riding to. Some parallels with the 2017 Champions Trophy have been brought up, where an obviously superior India side was blown away by a perfect Pakistan on the day. The five tournaments featuring more than five teams where these sides have met in the final may give Pakistan a 3-2 edge, but the Champions Trophy is an aberration. It is the only one where the result of an earlier meeting in the same competition has not repeated in the final.Pakistan will, as Rizwan might put it, be Asia Cup champions on Sunday. Or they will learn they are the second-best team in the continent. If it turns out to be the latter, then from the T20 lows they have found themselves in over the last two years, it will not be the worst position to be in.

Manchester United’s draw against West Ham United yesterday once again highlighted the struggles faced by the side during Ruben Amorim’s tenure at Old Trafford.

Diogo Dalot’s strike looked as though the Red Devils would secure all three points for the second time in a week, but their inability to defend set pieces ultimately cost them all three points.

Soungoutou Magassa’s effort was enough to secure the visitors a point, with Amorim left frustrated by his side’s lack of killer instinct to put the game to bed in the second half.

The result leaves United in eighth place in the Premier League, just two points off fourth, but the season could already look a whole lot different had the side managed to once again hold on for the win.

Numerous players failed to deliver during the meeting at Old Trafford, which could see the manager make some needed changes ahead of their next outing over the weekend.

United’s poor performers against West Ham last night

During the draw against Nuno Espírito Santo’s side, Luke Shaw was once again handed a start in the Premier League, now taking his run of starts to 14 in a row.

However, it was yet another performance to forget for the Englishman, with the centre-back struggling to deal with the threat posed by opposition forward Jarrod Bowen.

Shaw was dribbled past twice, lost 75% of the ground duels he entered, whilst also committing three fouls – showcasing his inability to stop his compatriot from impressing.

At the other end of the pitch, Bryan Mbeumo also struggled to continue his fine recent form in the Premier League, as the Cameroonian once again failed to find the back of the net.

Like Shaw, he struggled in his duels against the Hammers at Old Trafford, as seen by his measly tally of 100% aerials lost out of the five battles in which he entered.

He also failed to complete any of the crosses he attempted, whilst only placing one of his shots on target, subsequently being unable to provide the added threat needed in attacking areas.

The Man Utd star who needs to be dropped after West Ham

After failing to win for an eighth time in the league this campaign, Amorim will certainly need to find a winning formula quickly if he is to be a success as United manager.

He’s massively come under fire over recent months for his lack of success in the role, no doubt down to his reluctance to move away from his 3-4-2-1 system in key moments.

At 1-1 last night, he had the opportunity to bring Kobbie Mainoo onto the pitch in an attempt to secure victory, but it was his conservative substitutions which led to the draw.

The 40-year-old simply laughed in his post-match interview when one journalist suggested that the Englishman should have been brought on to push for the win.

Such a move wasn’t the only questionable decision made by Amorim last night, with the manager deciding to utilise Ayden Heaven at centre-back alongside Shaw and Noussair Mazraoui.

The youngster was handed his first league start of the campaign, but it was a decision that massively backfired, given his struggles at the Theatre of Dreams last night.

He featured for 45 minutes during the contest, before being replaced at the break after picking up a yellow card for a rash tackle on Bowen during the closing stages of the half.

The 19-year-old lost 100% of the duels he entered, whether that being on the ground or in the air, whilst committing two separate fouls, which no doubt led to his booking.

Heaven was also only able to complete a measly tally of six passes out of a possible ten, with none of his long balls being completed – showcasing his struggles in possession.

His struggles were compounded by his lack of involvement during the first half, only achieving a tally of 17 touches of the ball – with goalkeeper Senne Lammens having more, as seen by his tally of 29.

After such a performance, the manager must surely look to more senior options to fill the void, when his Red Devils side face Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday night.

Leny Yoro was brought on to replace the Englishman at the break, with the manager needing to select the Frenchman next time around to help the side return to winning ways.

18x ball lost: Amorim must ruthlessly bench overhyped 5/10 Man Utd man

This Man Utd ace struggled in their 1-1 draw at home to West Ham

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“Every game we play now is a big lead up opportunity. It’s about filling in the gaps with guys who have left.”

Firdose Moonda02-Dec-2025Temba Bavuma will be back to lead South Africa’s ODI side as they seek to square the series in India but has not confirmed where he will bat while the team continues to tinker with top-order combinations.Bavuma missed the opening match with illness, where South Africa stuck to their new(ish) combination of Aiden Markram and Ryan Rickelton, with Quinton de Kock at No.3. With the series on the line, they may look to return to the more successful and experienced combination of de Kock and Bavuma at the top, especially given their record. While Markram and Rickelton have opened together in just seven innings, and scored 306 runs at 43.71, de Kock and Bavuma have been South Africa’s second-most prolific opening pair since 2016 with over 1,000 runs together from 19 innings at 56.42, and would appear the better choice.On the eve of match two, Bavuma was non-committal about where he stood in the line-up. “Where I fit in, generally being in that top three, I’m easy whichever way is best for the team, as long as I’m still contributing,” Bavuma said in Raipur, where he also had a long net session, confirming his return to health. “At the moment, it’s about creating depth. There is versatility in that guys who generally bat at the top of their order have used in the middle. In this team, a guy like Matthew Breetzke, who generally sees himself at the top in one-day cricket, but he’s doing that job more than well now at No.4 A guy like Tony (de Zorzi) – he’s getting that opportunity to bat at five.”Related

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In the absence of Heinrich Klaasen (retired), Tristan Stubbs (dropped) and David Miller (not in this ODI squad), South Africa have effectively created a top five out of five different opening batters with Dewald Brevis in at six. The only reserve batter is Rubin Hermann (also a top three batter for the bulk of his List A career) and Bavuma explained their reasoning for stacking the squad with top-order players.”Going back to South Africa, there’s always that element of batsmanship that you need. I know there’s a big craze about guys hitting sixes in the middle order, but you need a little bit of batsmanship. A guy like Tony, he has the characteristics.,” Bavuma said. “I guess now it’s just to keep putting on the performances to justify why he should do that.”De Zorzi has played 21 ODIs for South Africa, scored 688 runs and averages 36.21. He has a strike-rate below 100 and though he is strong against spin, is seen more as someone who can build an innings and rotate strike rather than a big-hitter. It’s that type of player South Africa think they will need, not only in the subcontinent but as they build their resources for the home ODI World Cup in 2027.The tournament is just less than two years away but South Africa will only play, according to the FTP, nine ODIs after this series, all at home. That could change especially as the FTP only runs to April 2027 and the World Cup will be held in October but the time to experiment is now, which is exactly what South Africa are doing.”Every game we play now is a big lead up opportunity. It’s about filling in the gaps with guys who have left,” Bavuma said. “Especially from a resource point of view, we want to make sure if we do have a situation where one of our main bowlers is out that we do have young guys to step in. We’re seeing guys like Nandre Burger, they are putting up their hands. So creating depth and then seeing where guys can be filling in those roles.”Bavuma feels Matthew Breetzke is pulling his weight and more at No.4•BCCI

With Kagiso Rabada out of the series. Burger led the attack in the first match with support from three other seamers: Ottneil Baartman, Corbin Bosch and Marco Jansen. South Africa also have Lungi Ngidi, who is certain to play a role at some stage, in the squad, but for now, seem to be leaning more towards allrounders. Bosch and Jansen were both crucial in South Africa’s attempt to chase 350 in Ranchi and could keep their places as the series goes on. Jansen, in particular, has had a coming of age tour of India, and has made himself central to South Africa’s XI in all formats. Expect to see much more of him in this series.”I don’t know where the rankings sit but I’m sure Marco Jansen in any one of those formats will definitely be in the top 10. His contributions with the bat, with the ball, sometimes even both, have been immense to our success. Marco is still a young guy but he’s had a lot of international cricket that is under his belt and he’s only growing into his own and he’s becoming a lot more comfortable in his skin.”Currently, Jansen, who scored 93 and took seven wickets in the Guwahati Test, is sixth on the ICC’s Test allrounder rankings but 35th on the ODI list. His returns in Ranchi, where he scored a 39-ball 70 and took 2 for 76, could be the start of his climb up the charts.

Club’s first List A title since 1994 comes a year on from the death of young spinner, Josh Baker

Vithushan Ehantharajah21-Sep-2025The waiting. The uncertainty. The fear. All of it made Worcestershire’s victory that much sweeter.Faced with a rank forecast above Trent Bridge, neither team knew if matters would be settled on the weekend, never mind Saturday. Worcestershire had restricted Hampshire to 237 for 7, then found out they’d be chasing a re-jigged 251 from 45 overs. That ended up being 188 from 27.The final pursuit began just 21 minutes before the 5:36pm cut-off for the minimum required 20-over chase. Such were the unknowns, even the ECB’s unofficial word on protocol (had the rain returned prior to the 5:15pm start) was refreshingly honest. How much play would spill into Sunday if a shorter second innings had been rubber-stamped the day before? They would broach that when it arrived, which was hopefully never.”At the halfway stage, I quite fancied the longer chase,” Jake Libby, Worcestershire’s captain, said afterwards, and understandably so, having entered this final with 50 overs in mind. Some in the Worcestershire dressing-room were anxious during the hours of hold-up. Ethan Brookes, who all but won the match with 57 off 34, spent most of it asleep.Both Libby and Brookes succumbed to Hampshire’s own unknown. Released from an England squad, having travelled overnight from Ireland, Scotland international Scott Currie dropped into Nottingham for his second Metro Bank appearance this season to take a maiden List A five-wicket haul.Libby’s nick through to Ben Brown swung the game back Hampshire’s way. Brookes’ top-edge, if not the end, was seemingly the start of it, as the first of three to fall to Currie in the innings’ penultimate over.Could Brookes have come in earlier? His penchant for a boundary – he has struck one every 5.25 balls this campaign – looked a necessity. As Libby and Kashif Ali were taking time to erect a platform with their less-than-a-run-a-ball stand of 62, you wondered where the meaningful strikes would come from. Brookes’ arrival, with 93 required from 61 balls, felt overdue.Matthew Waite and Henry Cullen produced the winning flourish for Worcestershire•Getty ImagesHis five fours and four sixes ensured it was just in the nick of time. Moreover, his calculations were spot on. Currie’s hugging of the wide line from the Radcliffe Road End made it “pretty much impossible” for Brookes to access his natural hitting arc to the shorter leg side. So, Brookes remained patient, as much for other bowlers to target as the deliveries they would send his way.”Abbott and Fuller, I think it was?” Brookes asked, mind still mush from the battle. “Uh, I can’t remember, this is all a bit of a blur… but I knew that they were going to go off-pace, because that’s what the wicket suited.” Brookes ensured the last overs of Abbott (25th) and Fuller (22nd) were taken for 15 and 16, respectively.As Libby recalled: “Ethan came out to me and, I remember, the sentence he said to me was: ‘I’m gonna try and do something special here’.” Such was Brookes’ flow state, he was able to buy back a few chances for Worcestershire to use when he had left. He also recouped time to lament his dismissal without missing the final throes, including Matthew Waite’s first-ball six over wide long on. The allrounder eventually finished unbeaten with 16 off five.”I literally took my emotion out in the dressing-room and then was like, right, there’s a game to watch still here,” Brookes said. “We know what we can do at the back end. He (Waite) has played a special knock as well there. People should not forget that.”Don’t worry, they won’t. Not the moment of glory, which took an age for the television umpire to confirm, not that anyone by this point was in a rush. Aside from Henry Cullen, who had gone from fearing his pull shot off Brad Wheal had been caught at backward square leg, to being adamant he had found the winning strike, based on Abbott’s subdued reaction having butted the boundary sponge.Libby did not celebrate to begin with. Stoic throughout this campaign, Worcestershire’s 50-over skipper ceded that his exact thoughts at the time remain hazy. The product, perhaps, of “a few elbows to the head” in the ensuing limbs.Josh Baker died in May last year at the age of 20•Stu Forster/Getty ImagesNot since 1994 have Worcestershire experienced List A glory, back when it was a 60-over competition. Their previous silverware, 2018’s Vitality Blast, was achieved with an entirely different XI. The only potential survivor, Brett D’Oliveira, rolled his ankle on Thursday in the dregs of a County Championship match against Durham that confirmed the club’s relegation back to Division Two.D’Oliveira had been Worcestershire’s leading run-scorer in the Metro Bank. He is also a totem of an organisation admired across the country for its family feel. A compliment, even as the English game careers towards a less emotive state.Brett and his lineage – from his trailblazing grandfather Basil, to his much-loved father, Damian, whose loss in 2014 was an emotional body blow – embody the soul of New Road. As such, there was no better person to be holding Josh Baker’s shirt as the trophy was lifted than Brett, having laid down his crutches.Baker’s death in May of last year at the age of 20 rocked the club. Hampshire captain Nick Gubbins highlighted how much of that tragedy reverberated beyond New Road. “Some things are bigger than cricket,” Gubbins said. “If there’s one team I would be happy to lose to, or as happy as you can be, it would be Worcestershire.”The logo of the JB33 foundation, set up in Baker’s honour by his parents, Lisa and Paul, adorns Worcestershire’s playing shirts. They carry him forward on both sides of their chest. On Saturday night, a squad, a supporter base and a family used the stage of a final to honour him.”This means a lot to a lot of people at the club,” Libby said. “Players, coaches, supporters, families, friends… and of course, Josh Baker, who we’ve worn proudly on the front of our shirts this season. And he is still very much in our thoughts.”Ironically, it was Libby who kept his teammates waiting at the end, as they lined up behind the trophy, waiting for their leader to finish a long post-match debrief on Sky. There was more waiting as the players queued to embrace Baker’s parents as their own, pushed to the front of the stand teeming with Worcestershire support.”It was very difficult,” said Brookes. “[It’s] heartbreaking what’s happened and… to share a really special memory with his parents in honour of Josh. It’s… yeah, it will definitely be a highlight of my career.”Related

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If there was one regret, it was that Worcestershire’s club journalist, John Curtis, was not there to witness the scenes. Curtis, who passed in April, was a beloved figure in the New Road press box, and every other he walked into. And these were not so much the days that made his job worthwhile – he truly loved them all – but what he wished for a team and group of players he never tired of championing. An avid chronicler of the county, this latest entry into their history books will carry his honour, too.Even without this victory, Worcestershire were the standout 50-over side of the 2025 season. Consistency of selection despite the Hundred – only Adam Hose graced that tournament for Trent Rockets before his horrific leg injury – saw them lose just once. For all the feeling associated with this success, it is no less than their cricket has deserved.It is also important to state that Saturday was third on Hampshire’s list of priorities, even if this is now a second defeat at this stage in the last three seasons, in a competition that has proved an effective schooling for their prodigious young talents. Having also lost in the Vitality Blast final last weekend, they now head into the final round of the County Championship fighting for their own Division One survival.Therein lies modern county cricket in a nutshell. Constantly vying with itself for relevance – be it status or simply a reason to be. Even a club of Hampshire’s stature, and all their freshly enhanced financial might, are not immune from that struggle.But on Saturday, in a competition that time is starting to forget, amid great uncertainty around the future relevance of the English county game, Worcestershire and all whom they hold dear were able to rise above it all for their own, deserved moment.

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