Former Pakistan cricketer Waqar Younis lost his patience with Saim Ayub after the latter recorded his fourth duck of Asia Cup 2025 in the match against Bangladesh on Thursday. The left-hander's poor form continued as he once again failed to open his account and got dismissed without scoring for the fourth time out of six occasions. It was only in the Super 4 clashes against India and Sri Lanka where he avoided being dismissed for a duck. The 23-year-old has only scored 23 runs in the competition so far.
Though Ayub has contributed well in the bowling department by picking up six wickets in the tournament so far, Younis wants him to be dropped from the playing XI. He added that Pakistan need to focus more on his batting rather than relying on him to clinch wickets.
"Look, I said it after the second duck, I said this guy needs to be benched. It's not that he is not talented; he is very talented. I think he is the future of Pakistan cricket. But sometimes when things are not going right for you, you just keep going in the shell, keep going down and down, and that's what is happening here with him. His body language was poor this aftertnoon when he walked onto the field," Waqar said on SonyLiv.
"You know, he is a youngster, you really need to look after them sometimes, by just not playing t hem sometimes. Pakistan kept on playing him, just purely because he can bowl. You don't need to worry about his bowling; Pakistan needs to worry about his batting. If he is going to give us runs or not. At the moment, it is not happening. He needs to dig deeper in his game to score a few runs," he added.
Ayub's massive drop in form
Ayub hadn't been in the best of forms coming into the Asia Cup, however his performances have massively deteriorated in the tournament. Though Pakistan's performance with the bat has been quite disappointing as a whole, Ayub has been the centre of attention and criticism. It is safe to say that Ayub has had a forgetful campaign with the bat so far.
First-ever India-Pakistan final in Asia Cup
However, he can change all of that if he manages to perform well with the bat in the final against India. The two arch-rivals are set to clash against each other for the third time in the ongoing tournament and this time it will be for the coveted Asia Cup title. The highly-anticipated match will be held on September 28 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.