Following a series of controversies and threats, the Pakistan cricket team played their final match against the UAE in the Asia Cup 2025, managing to secure a victory. The Pakistan team, which had threatened to boycott the match and the tournament due to their demand to remove match referee Andy Pycroft, was eventually compelled to play. Initial poor batting performance put them at risk of an embarrassing defeat. However, the bowlers rallied, and Pakistan won the match by 41 runs, earning a spot in the Super 4 stage.
The match, held at the Dubai International Stadium on Wednesday, September 17th, was clouded by issues. The Pakistan team and their cricket board were demanding the removal of match referee Andy Pycroft after a disagreement about handshakes following the match against India. The ICC firmly rejected their demand. Consequently, the Pakistan team threatened to boycott the match and the tournament, which appeared to materialize when they didn’t arrive at the stadium on time. The match was delayed for an hour, and a compromise was reached.
Despite the initial poor batting display, Pakistan’s troubles continued from the previous matches. Opener Saim Ayub was dismissed in the first over for the third consecutive match without scoring any runs. The other batsmen failed to perform well, and wickets fell regularly. By the 15.1st over, Pakistan had lost 6 wickets with a score of only 93 runs. However, Fakhar Zaman played a brilliant innings of 50 runs off 36 balls, but the top-order batsmen were unsuccessful.
Once again, fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi saved the team with the bat, smashing a quickfire 29 runs off just 14 balls, propelling the team to a competitive score of 146 runs. Junaid Siddique, a pacer for UAE, took 4 wickets, while Simranjeet, a spinner, took 3 wickets.
UAE’s opener, Alishan Sharafu, started aggressively and scored some boundaries, but he was bowled by Shaheen in the third over. Captain Muhammad Wasim was soon dismissed by spinner Abrar Ahmed, leaving the score at 37 runs for 3 wickets by the sixth over. A significant partnership developed between Rahul Chopra (35) and Dhruv Parashar (20), but it was slow, giving Pakistan an opportunity to come back. Chopra was out at a score of 85 in the 14th over, and the entire innings was wrapped up at 105 runs. Shaheen, Haris Rauf, and Abrar took 2 wickets each for Pakistan. With this victory, Pakistan, along with India, secured their place in the Super 4 stage from Group A.
