Pakistan Eye Asia Cup Final Berth, Confident of India Showdown: Farhan

Pakistan opener Sahibzada Farhan said the team feels confident ahead of the Super 4 match against Sri Lanka on Tuesday at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, with hopes of reaching the Asia Cup final for a possible third meeting with India.

In their previous Super 4 match against India on Sunday, September 21 in Dubai, Pakistan’s batting showed clear improvement, and Farhan scored an important 58 runs even though the team lost by six wickets.

With the important do-or-die game coming up, Farhan said that Pakistan are determined to play well, focusing on teamwork, planning, and staying composed throughout.

“In my opinion, the way we played today and the way our batting went, the boys are very confident. The wicket is true, the ball is coming nicely, and since it’s a do-or-die match, we are determined to win,” Farhan said in the pre-match press conference.

Farhan said Pakistan were pleased with their start against India, scoring 91 runs in the first 10 overs while losing only Fakhar Zaman’s wicket. However, the team lost momentum in the later stages, managing just 80 runs in the final 10 overs, and Farhan added that Pakistan need to address that area of their batting.

“In my opinion, what we missed in the last match was utilising the powerplay, as we lost early wickets and that created pressure on the batsmen. Today, apart from Fakhar, we didn’t lose early wickets and had a very good start — around 90 runs in the first 10 overs. In the middle overs we did collapse a little, but we will fix that as well,” Farhan added.

Following their defeat to India, Pakistan fell to the bottom of the Super Four table with a net run rate of -0.689. After facing Sri Lanka, they will play their final Super Four match against Litton Das’ Bangladesh on September 25 in Dubai.