As a prelude and preparation for Asia Cup 2025, three teams collide against each other in Sharjah for the next week or so to not only get bragging rights and win the trophy. But they also will get acclimatized to the conditions in UAE for the Asia Cup 2025 that will be played in Dubai and Abu Dhabi from September 9-28. Afghanistan, Pakistan & UAE are here and will face off against each other in a double round robin format before the finals.
The series kicks off on 29th August 2025 with the final scheduled on September 7th two days ahead of the Asia Cup opener. Each team will play each other twice with the top two reaching the finals. So, there will be a total of 7 matches panned across 9-10 days with a rest day in between. T20 cricket comes naturally to all the three teams competing and in more ways than one are familiar to these conditions. UAE are playing at home while Afghanistan plays their home games in Sharjah now. Pakistan for almost a decade played their home games in UAE. So, adapting to the conditions won’t be a problem.
This series gives teams to fine tune their squad and get battle ready as there is nothing like match practise ahead of the sub-continental event. All three teams will definitely benefit from this series. Now, which team comes out on top and who falters remains to be seen as things go along. But definitely, Afghanistan and Pakistan are more fancied than UAE on paper but the UAE team are playing at home and that could be a factor as we go along in the series.
Overview of the Series
Afghanistan are led by Rashid Khan in this Tri-series and also Asia Cup that follows this tournament. Afghanistan players are home and thrive in T20 cricket. Add to that, they thrive in these conditions especially in Sharjah and will be a force to reckon with not only in this Tri-Series but also in Asia Cup. They have a proven leader in Rashid Khan who has been in decent form in the Hundred playing for Oval Invincibles. They have got experienced players in the side.
The likes of Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Azmatullah Omarzai, Karim Janat and the ever-reliable Mohammad Nabi with both bat and ball. They have got Gulbadin Naib, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, Noor Ahmad alongside Allah Ghazanfar. The fast bowling will be handled by Fazalhaq Farooqi and Naveen ul Haq and they have got options in Fareed Ahmed Malik. The bowling both pace and spin looks well covered. The batting can be an issue but with Atal there, it could be solved.
Their main threat will be batting more than bowling especially if pitches are flat. But if there is purchase for the spinners, there is no better team than Afghanistan. They will not only aim to do well here, but also in Asia Cup coming up against the big nations there. They have got a good mix of youth and experience and if they hold their own they can give fancied teams like Pakistan problems and not just Pakistan other nations as well. The threat will be if the top order fails, they could collapse.
Pakistan will be led by Salman Ali Agha and all the news was about no Babar and Rizwan. But if we look at the T20I set-up it’s a balanced team and being playing T20Is lately. They will be led by Salman Ali Agha and have players like Fakhar Zaman, Saim Ayub, and Sahibazada Farhan in their ranks. Watch out for their finishers Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, and Khushdil Shah to do a job. Mohammad Haris will keep wickets in the absence of Rizwan.
The pace bowling department will be led by Shaheen Afridi and complimenting him with Hasan Ali and Haris Rauf with fast bowling all-rounder Faheem Ashraf in the ranks as well. They also have Mohammad Wasim Jr in their ranks. Salman Mirza is also an option. Their spin bowling options are Sufiyan Muqeem and Abrar Ahmed. Mohammad Nawaz has missed out on this squad. But Pakistan too have their bases covered. They know the UAE conditions well.
One thing that goes against Pakistan and we have seen in the recent past is the unpredictability of the team. They can be great one day, not so much the other day. So, that is something that might hamper them in these competitions but also makes them doubly dangerous. Which Pakistan side turns up always is intriguing for everyone to see.
United Arab Emirates will be led by Muhammad Waseem and they have a new look squad but the biggest advantage for them is playing at home and wanting to do well against the more fancied opponents. There is Muhammad Jawadullah who has been playing for a while and Aryansh Sharma who keeps wickets for them. Junaid Siddique is a key player for the hosts and then we have Asif Khan and Alishan Sharafu to name a few. UAE have been in action in domestic cricket but haven’t played internationals for a while.
The big challenge for UAE will be not to get overawed by the situation and play well in Sharjah. They will be playing against two fancied sides and will be underdogs in those clashes. So, they can come out with a nothing to loose mentality and do well and who knows might surprise their opponents for all we know. But it’s going to be a tough task for UAE to upstage both Afghanistan and Pakistan but anything can happen in T20 cricket.
Afghanistan, Pakistan Face-off in Series Opener
A new age rivalry is heating up as Afghanistan and Pakistan face off in the Tri series opener at Sharjah Cricket Stadium in Sharjah. Both teams are facing in the T20 format for the first time in almost two years. Afghanistan have not featured in a T20I since December 2024 and this will be their first T20I in 2025. Pakistan, on the other hand, have played T20Is against Bangladesh and West Indies lately. While they lost to Bangladesh 1-2 in Mirpur, they went to Florida and beat West Indies 2-1.
Led by Rashid Khan, Afghanistan have a great blend of youth and experience and have most of their bases covered if we look at carefully. They have got Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Sediqullah Atal as top order batters. All-rounders Azmatullah Omarzai, Karim Janat and Gulbadin Naib are there. Then you have Rashid himself leading the spin department alongside Mujeeb, Noor, Nabi the all-rounder, Ghazanfar, to name a few. The pace bowling will be handled by Fazalhaq Farooqi, Naveen ul Haq and there is the option of Fareed Malik as well. Omarzai is a decent pacer not to mention. Batting is where things can go awry at times.
Pakistan will be led by Salman Ali Agha and they may not have Babar and Rizwan, but have got other players in their ranks. The likes of Fakhar Zaman, Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, the ever-talented Hasan Nawaz and Hussain Talat, Mohammad Haris with the gloves. The pace department has the likes of Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali and pace bowling all-rounder Faheem Ashraf. They also have Mohammad Wasim Jr and Salman Mirza in the ranks. The spin bowling department has Sufiyan Muqeem and Abrar Ahmed in their ranks as Mohammad Nawaz has missed the bus for this tournament.
They have a good team but unpredictability could come back to haunt Pakistan as they can be up and down on a given day. It also makes them dangerous as well, but they will want to be more consistent and what better way than to start consistency from this Tri-series ahead of Asia Cup because one feels they do well when Babar and Rizwan are not part of the playing set-up.
Head-To-Head
Afghanistan and Pakistan have faced each other on 7 occasions with Afghanistan winning 3 times and Pakistan winning 4 times. So, there is nothing to choose between the two sides. But it is Afghanistan who holds the upper hand in the last 4 fixtures as they have won the last three of them including at Hangzhou in Asian Games 2023 by 4 wickets. Pakistan dominated the Head-To-Head in the initial matches winning the first three fixtures between the two teams.
Pitch & Weather Report in Sharjah
Sharjah Cricket Stadium is a relatively small stadium with ground dimensions of 62 metres straight down the ground and 65 metres square of the wicket. The dimensions anyhow make the venue a little tilted towards the batters. The wicket has sometimes favoured the batters while even dry, run scoring has been really hard against variation bowlers and spinners. The pitch may be two-paced and moderately going to be in the favour of the bowlers and batters will have to give themselves time on the crease to get value from strokes.
There is absolutely no rain expected on match day with clear day and clear night in prospect. It will be hot in Sharjah with temperature touching 45 degrees Celsius in the day. The humidity will be 62%. Generally in UAE, dew plays a heavy role but it is unlikely to make that much of a difference here. The precipitation chances are minimal 1-3% and so we can expect a clear day of cricket.
Predicted Playing XIs of both sides
Here, we will try and predict the likely playing XIs of both sides.
Afghanistan XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Darwish Rasooli, Sediqullah Atal, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Karim Janat, Rashid Khan (c), Noor Ahmad, AM Ghazanfar.
Pakistan XI: Saim Ayub, Sahibazada Farhan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Hasan Nawaz, Salman Ali Agha (c), Khushdil Shah, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Sufiyan Muqeem, Abrar Ahmed.
Predicted Outcome of the Match
It’s difficult to predict a winner in this contest between Afghanistan and Pakistan. They are both well-matched and Head-to-Head also shows nothing to pick between the sides. Afghanistan has had the better of Pakistan lately in their last 4 games. It’s tough to choose an outright winner. But given the conditions, form and team composition we reckon Afghanistan have their slight noses in front, but Pakistan may also win the match. We shall see how things pan out.
So, the stage is set for the Tri-series to begin and for the opener to take place between two evenly-matched teams in the competition. Let’s see who draws first blood later tonight when Afghanistan faces off against Pakistan in what could be a thriller between the two sides.