Former India opener Virender Sehwag has slammed Pakistan’s batters for their poor performance in the Asia Cup 2025 final. The legendary cricketer said the team once again lost momentum despite getting off to a good start and made things easy for India’s bowlers.
“This is not the first time this has happened with Pakistan. They start well and then try to score too many runs. They are 100/1 and then think they should reach 200–225. Everyone tries to hit and gets out one after the other,” Sehwag told broadcasters.
Pakistan got off to a good start with an 84-run opening partnership between Sahibzada Farhan (57) and Fakhar Zaman (46). With the help of Farhan’s half-century, the team reached 113/2 before the Indian spin trio of Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, and Axar Patel triggered their collapse and restricted Pakistan to 146 runs. Captain Salman Ali Agha and the entire middle order struggled throughout the tournament, and the captain failed to make any impact all season.
Sehwag took a sly dig at the Pakistan batting line-up by saying they find ways to get out.
“Pakistan are famous for destroying themselves. If you get out while batting well, you put pressure on the next batter. So one batter had to stay on if the opening partnership was good. I feel Pakistan don’t need bowlers to get them out — their batters get themselves out,” he added.
Sehwag also criticised Fakhar Zaman for not converting his start into a big score. “I would say the shot selection was not right. We can say the Indian bowlers bowled well — which they did, to an extent — but the shot selection was horrible. Fakhar Zaman, who was set, got out to a wide delivery. You had played out the powerplay and had reached 45 or 46 easily, and then you played that shot and got out. I think he disappointed a lot because one set batter had to stay if Pakistan were to reach 180–190,” Sehwag concluded.
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