Pakistan opener Sahibzada Farhan completed his half-century off 34 balls in the Super Four clash against India in the ongoing Asia Cup 2025 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Notably, he was dropped twice by Abhishek Sharma, and that allowed the 29-year-old to build momentum and get to his half-century.
However, immediately after reaching the milestone, Farhan celebrated controversially by making a shooting gesture with his bat, adding to the on-field and off-field tensions between the two teams. This celebration style was previously seen from Asif Ali. Now, it needs to be seen whether Farhan has broken any of the ICC’s code of conduct.
India’s bowling, fielding grab spotlight in Dubai
India had a horrid day in the field, which allowed Pakistan to capitalise in the middle. On top of that, Jasprit Bumrah proved extremely expensive, breaking his record for most runs conceded in the powerplay. The star pacer has leaked 34 runs in his three overs. The Indian spinners, who kept Pakistan in check in the previous game, failed to gain momentum and that put India in a state of bother.
Things changed slightly after Suryakumar introduced Shivam Dube in the middle. The all-rounder bowled two tight overs that put Pakistan in some trouble, as they failed to deal in boundaries. Dube also sent Saim Ayub back to the pavilion for 21 runs. Soon after that, Kuldeep picked up the wicket of Hussain Talat. Soon, it was followed by Farhan’s wicket, who departed for 58 runs.
India will have to keep up with the momentum to restrict Pakistan to a chaseable total. For that, the fielding standard needs to improve significantly.
Pakistan (Playing XI): Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Fakhar Zaman, Salman Agha (c), Hussain Talat, Mohammad Haris (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed
India (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy