Following an exciting victory over Bangladesh, Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha stated that he thinks his squad is a “special team” and that they are capable of defeating any team, including India, in the Asia Cup final.
Pakistan’s bowlers stepped up, defending a modest 135 with determination to secure an 11-run victory in Thursday’s Super 4 clash in Dubai, setting up a maiden Asia Cup final against arch-rivals India.
“If you win these kind of games, then we must be a special team. Everyone played really well. There is some improvement needed in batting. But we will work on that,” Agha said at the presentation.
After meeting once in the group stage and again in the Super Fours, the two fierce rivals will now play each other for the third time in the tournament.
“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,” the skipper added.
Agha specifically mentioned Shaheen Shah Afridi, who won Player-of-the-Match for his overall performance.
“Shaheen is a special player. He does what the team needs of him. Very happy for him. We were 15 runs short. The way we bowled up front, we could create pressure. We bowled well with the new ball. More often than not you will win games if you bowl like this,” he said.
“We have been fielding well… We have been having extra sessions. Mike Hesson said if you can’t field, you won’t be in the team.”
Afridi earlier struck a brisk 19 off 13 balls to lift Pakistan to a competitive total, then returned with the ball to claim impressive figures of 3/17.
“Early on, as a team, we need breakthroughs and I go for that. In a small total, you need early breakthroughs and we planned that. Three overs in the powerplay – that is the difference,” Afridi said.
On his batting, he added: “After early wickets, team decided (to let me go) and take on bowlers. Those sixes turned momentum to our end.”
Regarding the final match versus India, Afridi stated: “We are ready.”
Jaker Ali, the interim captain of Bangladesh, attributed their consecutive losses to their batting.
“As a batting unit, last two games we lost it. We did good work with the bowling unit. Yesterday also the batting cost us the game,” he said.
“I tried to take those chances. I tried to adjust to the captaincy. Our bowlers Rishad and then Saif with the bat. Unfortunately, we didn’t support Saif much.”
