ASIA CUP 2025
Salman Ali Agha believes his team has “saved their best” for Sunday’s Asia Cup final against India © ACC
Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha believes his team has “saved their best” for Sunday’s Asia Cup final against India. Despite suffering comprehensive defeats in the last two encounters between the sides in Dubai, Salman said Pakistan remained confident of turning things around in a high-pressure clash.
“There is always a lot of pressure on Pakistan and India when they play each other, and if we say that there is no pressure, then it is wrong. Both the teams will have the same amount of pressure,” Salman said at the pre-final press conference in Dubai.
“We have made more mistakes than them and that is why we have not won matches. If we make fewer mistakes than them, we will win. Whichever team makes fewer mistakes will win, and we will try to make fewer mistakes.
“Inshallah, you will see us winning tomorrow. Our attempt is to play our best cricket. And we know that if we play our best cricket and execute our plans for 40 overs, then we can beat any team. And we will try to do that.”
This Asia Cup has seen as many headlines off the field as on it, from Sahibzada Farhan’s gun celebration to Haris Rauf’s boundary-line gestures, both of which drew sanctions from the ICC, along with Suryakumar Yadav’s political remark. Salman, though, defended his players’ right to express themselves, as long as they didn’t cross a line.
“It rests with the individual, everyone has their own way. If someone wants to be aggressive on the ground, then why not? Because if you take away aggression from a fast bowler, then nothing is left.
“Every player knows how to deal with his emotions. As a captain, I give a free hand to any player on how to react on the ground, unless he is disrespecting someone or doing something disrespectful to the country.
“If you snatch gestures from a fast bowler, I don’t think he will be as effective as he should be. And if an individual wants to be aggressive on the ground, most welcome whether he is from our team or theirs, I have no problem with that.”
Salman also expressed disappointment at the absence of post-match handshakes between the teams during this tournament.
“I started playing cricket from 2007, at Under-16 level. I have never seen that there hasn’t been a handshake between two teams. My Abbu [father] is a big cricket fan, and he went back 20 more years and said it’s never happened that the two teams haven’t shaken hands. Even I can’t think of a time when it’s not happened.
“Even when India-Pakistan relations were worse, there was always a handshake. So, I don’t think not having a handshake is good for cricket.”
On the customary captains’ photoshoot with the trophy before the toss, Salman kept it light: “It’s their wish. If they want to come, they can come; if they don’t want to, let them not. We will follow our protocol. The rest is up to them. What else can we do?!”
When asked about how his players should deal with the external noise around India-Pakistan matches, an issue India captain Suryakumar Yadav had addressed by advising his team to “close your room, switch off your phone and go to sleep”, Salman said he had left it to his players.
“There is no message, because we cannot control the things happening outside the ground. In our team, we try to control what we can control. Whatever the media is doing, or whatever people are saying, is not in our control. And it doesn’t matter to us.
“We have come here to play good cricket, and we will play good cricket and leave. Our goal is to win the Asia Cup, and we will come to the ground for it tomorrow.”
© Cricbuzz
