Asia Cup 2025 final: Will Shaheen Afridi repeat his 2021 T20 World Cup heroics and help Pakistan beat India?

India have already faced Pakistan twice, winning both the matches. The first time was in the Group stage, and the other in the Super 4 stage. However, Pakistan will look upon their chances of winning the match, and their ace for this strategy is going to be their superstar pacer Shaheen Afridi.

In this tournament, Shaheen Afridi did not begin with his proper form, but has since found his rhythm and is regularly securing wickets in the early overs- helping Pakistan take the upper hand in matches. Afridi is also going to be an important player for the team in the upcoming match as last time PAK beat IND in a T20I, it was Afridi himself who built the foundation of this victory.

The last time India lost to Pakistan in a T20I was back in the 2021 ICC T20 World Cup. Shaheen Afridi bowled his opening spell of three overs, and got the wickets of Rohit Sharma (0), KL Rahul (3) and Suryakumar Yadav (11). Due to this The Men in Blue could only post 151/7 on the board, which was chased down in just 17.5 overs.

If Shaheen Afridi can manage to secure early wickets for his team this time as well, the situation might end up being the same as it was back in 2021, as only the opening pair of Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill look in their fair form. Since the rest of the lineup is failing to secure big numbers, India might be in trouble if Shaheen manages to pick early breakthroughs.