Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha was over the moon with his side's 11-run victory over Bangladesh which saw his side reach the final of Asia Cup 2025. The Men in Green will be clashing against India for the third time in the ongoing edition of the tournament and this time it will be for the coveted title. Suryakumar Yadav & Co. have won the previous two encounters against their arch-rivals and it remains to be seen how the final match goes.
However, Agha feels that the team that they have in hand is good enough to beat anyone and added that they will be trying their level-best to defeat India on Sunday.
"Very excited. We know what we need to do, and we are a good enough team to beat anyone, and we will come on Sunday and try to beat them," Agha said at the post-match presentation as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
Agha's praise for the bowlers
The Pakisan skipper was also left very impressed with his side's bowling display against Bangladesh. Notably, they managed to defend a small target of 136 thanks to brilliant spells from Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf, both of whom took three wickets each and shifted the match in their side's favour. Agha remarked that even though they were 10-15 runs short, their bowlers' brilliant performance led them to victory.
"We were 10-15 runs short - no way I am going to deny that. If we bowl the way we did up front, we will create pressure. When you create pressure up front, it is tough to chase it down. Bowled well with the new ball and once you bowl like this with the new ball, you win more often," Agha stated.
Pakistan's improvement in last 2 matches
Meanwhile, Pakistan have certainly picked up their form coming into the final of Asia Cup. After their defeat to India in the opening game of the Super 4 stage, they recorded victories over both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to make their way into the penultimate match of the tournament. It will be the first time in the competition's history that India and Pakistan will be locking horns against each other in the final and it remains which one of them will come out on top in the highly-important match.