Shaheen’s 4 Sixes Lift Pakistan to 127, But Kuldeep’s Magic Spell Strikes Hard in Asia Cup 2025

Pakistan's batting unit faced a lot of pressure in the much-anticipated Asia Cup 2025 Group A match at the Dubai International Stadium against a fiery bowling attack by India. Wickets fell early, and their top and middle order were not able to gain momentum. Then, when it was almost certain that Pakistan was going to collapse with less than 100 runs, Shaheen Shah Afridi stepped in to save the day by striking four lofty sixes in a superb cameo. His late blitz took Pakistan to 127/9, giving the bowlers a cause to fight.

Pakistan Batting – Full Scorecard

Batter	R	B	4s	6s
Saim Ayub	0	1	0	0
Sahibzada Farhan	40	44	1	3
Mohammad Haris †	3	5	0	0
Fakhar Zaman	17	15	3	0
Salman Agha (c)	3	12	0	0
Hasan Nawaz	5	7	0	0
Mohammad Nawaz	0	1	0	0
Faheem Ashraf	11	14	1	0
Shaheen Shah Afridi	33	12	0	4
Sufiyan Muqeem	10	6	2	0
Abrar Ahmed	0	0	0	0
Extras	5
Total	127/9 in 20 overs

Pakistan’s Rollercoaster Innings

Pakistan’s batting woes started early as Saim Ayub was dismissed for a duck, followed by Mohammad Haris and captain Salman Agha, who both failed to settle. Fakhar Zaman played a few eye-catching strokes before falling for 17, while Sahibzada Farhan stood tall with a fighting 40 off 44 balls. However, constant wickets at the other end denied Pakistan a strong partnership.

Shaheen Shah Afridi shocked the world when Pakistan were struggling at 94/8. He hit 33 off 12 balls with 4 huge sixes all by himself, and brought Pakistan to a respectable total of 127/9.

On the bowling front, India were attacking all the way through. The star of the show was Kuldeep Yadav, who took 3 wickets despite only giving 18 runs in his 4 overs by keeping the middle order of Pakistan choked through his variations. Jasprit Bumrah took two wickets and maintained tight lines, and dismissed key batters. Axar Patel took 2 wickets, Hardik Pandya claimed 1, and Varun Chakravarthy picked up 1 as well with their clever spin. Abhishek Sharma erected a close bowling over to hold the check-ins.