Salman Ali Agha’s Pakistan got off to an emphatic start in the 2025 Asia Cup as the side thrashed Oman by 93 runs in the Group A encounter at the Dubai International Stadium on Friday. Opting to bat first, Pakistan posted 160 runs on the board with Mohammad Haris top scoring with a knock of 66. However, everything was far from perfect for Pakistan. Batting first, the side lost Saim Ayub for a duck in the opening over. Sahibzada Farhan and Haris then put on 85 runs for the second wicket, and it was the latter who took the bull by its horns.
However, Pakistan failed to land the knockout punch. Farhan’s wicket (29) led to a mini-collapse of sorts, as the side went from 89/1 to 102/4 in a matter of 12 balls. Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram didn’t mince his words, as he had a brutal assessment in store for Pakistan’s batting.
Akram joked that he went for a quick bite, and when he returned, Pakistan had gone from 1 wicket down to 4. Pakistan might have won the contest against Oman, but head coach Mike Hesson would be aware that the team needs to pull up their socks if they are to beat India on Sunday.
“When you haven’t seen the bowlers before, you can take one or two balls and then go after the bowling. But they recovered well after that with the partnership between Sahibzada Farhan and Mohammad Haris,” said Akram during a discussion on Sony Sports.
“Soon, I went for a quick bite, and when I came back, they were 3 wickets down (laughs),” he added.
What about Fakhar Zaman?
Haris was promoted up the order in the contest against, and he repaid the faith by scoring 66 off 43 balls with the help of seven fours and three sixes. However, his promotion led to Fakhar Zaman’s demotion as the experienced left-hander played at No.4.
Akram said that he is all for Haris batting at No.3; however, he was quick to point out Fakhar Zaman and his unfamiliarity with batting in the middle order.
“I am all for having Mohammad Haris at No.3, but then what about Fakhar Zaman, who has opened all his life. He gets shifted to No.4. But this is the struggle you will have when you have 5-6 openers in your playing XI,” said Akram.
Speaking with the bowling performance,
For the contest against Oman, Pakistan went in with just one frontline pacer, Shaheen Shah Afridi. It remains to be seen whether the team will change to include Haris Rauf for the high-octane clash against arch-rival India on Sunday, September 14.
