Afghanistan crashed to an embarrassing 75-run loss to Pakistan in the Tri-Series final as the contest turned out to be one-sided. It also continued a trend of teams batting first winning the contest as all 7 matches were now won by teams batting first at Sharjah. While Afghanistan showed promise with the ball and kept Pakistan down to 141 on a used surface, the batting crumbled and capitulated under pressure.
The pitch was tough but to be bowled out for 66 is no excuse for the so called second best team in Asia. Afghanistan’s batting was exposed and we will list three reasons for their loss against Pakistan in the final.
Losing 4/29 chasing 142 in the powerplay flattened Afghanistan
Afghanistan lost an important toss and had to bowl first. By and large they did a decent job on a used surface to restrict Pakistan to 141/8. But coming to chase 142, Afghanistan capitulated big time. They lost wickets at regular intervals and were on the back foot after the powerplay. Shaheen Afridi gave the Men in Green the perfect start dismissing Rahmanullah Gurbaz early.
After that the spinners took over inside the powerplay only. The form batter Sediqullah Atal was dismissed by Abrar Ahmed while Mohammad Nawaz got into the act as well getting rid of Darwish Rasooli and Azmatullah Omarzai off consecutive balls to leave Afghanistan in tatters. Nawaz would go on to complete the hat-trick post powerplay. Afghanistan’s batting was shaky and brutally exposed by the Pakistan bowlers as they hunted in pairs did the spinners. It was the powerplay overs in which Afghanistan lost the plot and never recovered.
Pakistan in their powerplay may have scored only 41 runs but were only 1 wicket down while Afghanistan were 4 down in the powerplay. This meant that Afghanistan were on the back foot and could never really recover from this jolt and considering their batting lacks depth and is a bit brittle they cannot afford such starts. Going ahead to the Asia Cup, Afghanistan needs to fix this issue as early as possible in order to do well and compete with the big teams. Batting like this will put them in serious trouble in the first round of games.
Inability to play Mohammad Nawaz exposes Afghanistan’s spin weakness
Mohammad Nawaz is a decent bowler and someone who can bat. He is no doubt a utility cricketer for Pakistan and has done well for them in the past. Here, he created havoc as he first picked up a hat-trick to dismantle Afghanistan batting and later picked up a five-wicket haul to win the game for his side easily. He dismissed Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai and Ibrahim Zadran for the hat-trick and later added the wickets of Karim Janat and captain Rashid Khan.
Afghanistan batters were all at sea against him and did not have the required technique to play him properly. Yes, the pitch was difficult and all, but giving 5 wickets to Nawaz showed the weaknesses that this team will have against quality bowling. They lost 9 out of 10 wickets to spin with Muqeem and Abrar amongst the wickets as well. With the Asia Cup expected to dish out similar conditions, the signs are worrying as playing spin well will be extremely important.
Afghanistan needs to sort this issue out quickly before it becomes too late as they are in the group of death alongside Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Hong Kong. If they bat like this, Afghanistan could face the prospect of early elimination before the Super 4s. Their inability to play spinners must have raised alarm bells in their camp. They will have to play more spin and quality of them come the Asia Cup. The Atlans have to bounce back from this loss quickly before it’s too late.
Rare failure of Ibrahim Zadran & Sediqullah Atal exposes Afghanistan’s brittle batting line-up
Based on what we saw in the Tri-Series, Ibrahim Zadran and Sediqullah Atal are the two key pillars and backbone of this Afghanistan batting line-up. One of the two always used to stand up and be counted for their team. But there are days when both won’t stand up and fail which may leave Afghanistan exposed. That is exactly what happened with Afghanistan on the night of the final.
Chasing 142 for the win, Afghanistan lost Gurbaz early as usual. Atal and Ibrahim were supposed to rebuild and stitch a partnership. But the Pakistan spinners had other ideas and picked both before they could get going. It exposed Afghanistan’s middle order and they were found wanting. All of them fell like a pack of cards and resulted in them getting skittled out for 66 in 15.5 overs. Credit to the Pakistan bowlers for bowling out of their skins especially the spinners, but the performance left a lot to be desired for Afghanistan.
Looking ahead to Asia Cup 2025, Afghanistan needs to get their batting in order to do well and post good totals on the board. They were doing so earlier in the tournament while batting first, but the two times they chased against Pakistan, they lost badly. It also proves that they are not necessarily a good chasing side. But all said and done, there are glaring holes in the Afghanistan side and something that must be addressed and fixed as soon as possible before it’s too late.
What Lies Ahead.Â
The UAE Tri-Series 2025 is over with Pakistan winning it and Afghanistan being runners-up. The stage is set now for Asia Cup 2025 to begin. Afghanistan will play the opener of Asia Cup against Hong Kong in Abu Dhabi on 9th September at 8PM IST in a Group B clash. Pakistan, on the other hand, will play their first game on 12th September against Oman in Dubai at 8PM IST in a Group A clash.
So, we are all set for Asia Cup 2025 as we will follow these two teams alongside 6 others as the competition promises to be intense from the word go. We shall wait and find out how things pan out for all the teams playing this competition.
Also Read:Â UAE T20I Tri-Series 2025: Pakistan Thrashes Afghanistan To Win Trophy