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Former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is not impressed with the lack of competition in the T20 Asia Cup 2025. Ahead of India's campaign opener against Muhammad Waseem-led UAE, Ashwin said that the tournament is not worthy of being called as curtain raiser for the next year's T20 World Cup. He wants inclusion of India A or the Proteas team to make it an Afro-Asia Cup.
“They can almost include a South Africa and make it an Afro-Asia Cup to make the tournament competitive. As it is now, they should probably include an India A side for it to be some contest. We’ve not even spoken about Bangladesh. Because there is nothing to talk about with them. How are these teams going to even compete against India?” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
Ashwin rates Afghan batters low
While Afghanistan reached the semifinal of the T20 World Cup 2024 after getting the better of mighty Australia and New Zealand, he feels that their batters are incapable of chasing down a big target.
“This is not some curtain raiser for the 2026 T20 World Cup, it’s only a curtain. This tournament isn’t some major yardstick for it. Even against the so-called threat of the Afghanistan bowlers, if India bat well and score 170+, who will Afghanistan chase this down with? It’s nearly impossible,” he said.
“The only way to defeat India is by somehow restricting them to 155 on a good day, and then chase it down. Normally a T20 is thrilling but India will likely make even that one-sided in this Asia Cup,” the 38-year-old added.
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2 fifties for Afghan batters, big win vs Hong Kong
Meanwhile, on the opening day of T20 Asia Cup 2025, Rashid-led Afghanistan beat Hong Kong by 94 runs at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi. Batting first, Afghanistan posted 188/6. Opener Sediqullah Atal carried his bat with an unbeaten 52-ball 73. Azmatullah Omarzai pushed the scoring rate with five sixes and two fours in his unbeaten 21-ball 53. In the run chase, Hong Kong managed to posted 94/9.
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