The Pakistan Cricket Team has booked their place in the semi-finals of the Asia Cup 2025 with a win over the hosts, the UAE, by 41 runs. While the victory was dominant, it exposed a few issues with the Men in Green’s team.
The Pakistan vs UAE game was Match 10 of the ACC Asia Cup 2025. The Dubai International Stadium hosted the Group A game, where the United Arab Emirates won the toss and chose to bowl first.
Pakistan vs UAE: Pakistan Books Their Place In Asia Cup Semi Final
Pakistan, despite being the overwhelming favourites coming into this game, saw their opening pair underperform for the third game in a row. Opener Saim Ayub was dismissed for a duck on the first over as the ball took a thick edge off his bat and flew to third man. This was Ayub’s third duck in this competition in as many games.
The Asian giants’ problems only increased when, in the third over, Sahibzada Farhan became the bowler Junaid Siddique’s second wicket of the night. After two quick wickets, veteran batter Fakhar Zaman and captain Salman Ali Agha took it upon themselves to stabilise the innings.
While Fakhar played a regular inning, Agha played especially slowly. And so, while the team score was 70 runs in the 11th over by the time the skipper got out, he himself had only scored 20 off 27. And with Zaman (50 off 36) and Hassan Nawaz (3 off 4) getting out in the 14th over, the score was 88/5, and Pakistan looked like they could realistically lose this match.
While regular wickets kept falling, a couple of lower-order batters pulled the run rate up with boundaries. Wicketkeeper Mohammad Haris hit three fours in his 18-run inning, while Shaheen Afridi, just like in the previous game against India, was a standout with the bat as he scored 29 off 14.
In the end, the Men in Green stumbled their way to an underwhelming yet respectable score of 146/9 in their allotted 20 overs. Zaman and Afridi were the only two batters who had decent showings in this inning. From the bowling side, pacer Junaid Siddique bowled an excellent four-over spell of 4/18.
In contrast, the UAE got off to a decent start. The opening pair of Alishan Sharafu and captain Muhammad Waseem made 19 runs in the first two overs. Then, in the third, Shaheen Afridi knocked Sharafu’s stumps over, dismissing him for 12 off eight. The skipper would depart a couple of overs later for 14 off 15, being dismissed by Abrar Ahmed. A third wicket would also fall in the powerplay as Zohaib Khan was bowled in the sixth over for four off nine, 37/3.
The fourth wicket partnership of Dhruv Parashar and wicketkeeper Rahul Chopra attempted to keep their wickets in hand. The two batted for over eight overs together. But in keeping their wickets, they had very low strike rates. By the time Parashar got out in the 14th over, he had scored 20 off 23, and the score was 85/4.
This was also the start of the UAE collapse, as in the very next over, Asif Khan was out for a duck. And yet another over later, Rahul Chopra, the highest run scorer for his team with his run-a-ball 35, was also dismissed.
At 96/6, the UAE needed a strong fight by the lower order; they instead got a collapse. Within the next two overs, all four remaining wickets would fall for nine runs. The innings would end in the 18th over for 105 runs.
For his exploits with the bat and a brilliant three-over spell of 2/16, Shaheen Afridi was the obvious choice for Player of the Match.
Pakistan started their Asia Cup campaign with a win over Oman and followed that with a humiliating defeat to India. And so, with a win in this Pakistan vs UAE match, the Men in Green have ended their group stage with two wins and four points and have thus qualified for the playoffs.
Pakistan will finish second in Group A and so will face the winner of Group B, which will likely be the winner of the Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan match.
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