Asia Cup 2025 | Super Four: India vs Pakistan | Preview and Predictions
It is time for another India-Pakistan clash in the ongoing Asia Cup 2025 as the two arch-rivals clash once again, this time looking to get their Super Four run underway with wins.
Ahead of the big clash in Super Fours, here is our match preview and predictions.
Asia Cup 2025 | Super Fours: IND vs PAK | 20:00 IST, September 21
The Indian team are one of the two teams who qualified for the Super Fours with a clean record, winning all three of their Group Stage games (Sri Lanka was the other one). After two dominating wins in the first two matches, the Men in Blue were given a surprising challenge by Oman although the experimental Indian squad came out on top as well.
The batting, which was heavily reliant on the top order of Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav, finally saw the middle order spend some time in the middle with Sanju Samson and Tilak Varma getting crucial runs under their belts ahead of the Super Fours. The Indian team rested Jasprit Bumrah for the Oman game, and brought in Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana and while Rana was a bit expensive and all over the place, Arshdeep was clinical at the death while Kuldeep Yadav and Hardik Pandya continued to chip in with wickets whilst being economical. India’s only worry would be a head injury suffered by Axar Patel, who walked off the pitch against Oman and given how fluid Patel is to the batting and bowling lineup, the Indian team would want him back in the setup as early as possible.
Pakistan, on the other side, have had a mixed start to their Asia Cup campaign. They looked woefully out of place against India in their Group A encounter and survived a scare against UAE with their most commanding win coming against Oman. Unlike India, Pakistan’s top order has struggled to provide the team with strong starts. Fakhar Zaman and Mohammad Haris have been the only two batters who have gotten runs for the Pakistani team in the top and middle order. It has been Shaheen Shah Afridi’s lower order heroics that have been saving face for them and Pakistan will hope for a better batting performance from their batters against India.
Pakistan’s bowling though, has been clinical. They were ruthless against Oman and while Saim Ayub has impressed with his offbreaks, Haris Rauf’s return against UAE, saw the speedster pick up some crucial wickets while Abrar Ahmed, Afridi and Mohammad Nawaz make up a strong bowling unit.
Both the teams will once again meet in Dubai and while there isn’t a lot of runs on offer at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, expect the spinners to shine on the slow and turning tracks. Given the squad depth and experience, the Indian team starts as the favourites and should come out on top once again in another India-Pakistan match up.
Fantasy XI: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Fakhar Zaman, Saim Ayub, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz
Venue: Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai
Winners Prediction: India
