Pakistan captain Salman Agha has pushed back against growing criticism of his “outdated” T20 batting technique, saying that it is “situational” right before the T20 Asia Cup 2025 final against India. People are very critical of Agha’s leadership and personal performance, especially since his T20I captaincy strike rate is only 110.02, which is lower than that of previous captains Babar Azam and Mohammad Hafeez.
Agha, who is 52nd out of 58 batsmen in the current Asia Cup and has a terrible strike rate of 78.04, said he needed to become better but that he didn’t have to always bat aggressively.
“I’m working on my performance because it hasn’t been as good as it should be.” Agha said at a news conference before the match in Dubai, “Strike rate is important in T20 cricket.” “But in the end, you have to look at what the team needs and what the scenario calls for. You don’t have to play with a strike rate of 150 if the pitch or the scenario doesn’t call for it. “Play based on the situation.”
Slow Start and Constant Failures
The current form of the skipper in the tournament is really worrisome. During the group stage, Agha got out for a duck against Oman, only got three runs off of 12 balls against India, and needed 27 balls to get just 20 runs against the UAE.
His problems continued in the Super Fours, as he failed again against spin in the must-win game against Sri Lanka (5 runs off 6 balls) and then had a hard time against Bangladesh, where he was out for 49/5 in the 11th over. Agha has always had trouble rotating strike and speeding up, especially against spinners, which is why he keeps being out.
Is it best to save the best for last?
Even though his whole team batted poorly throughout the competition, including his own fifth-worst strike rate among all Pakistan T20 leaders, Agha was still confident about the final against India’s Suryakumar Yadav.
He joked, “Everyone knows we haven’t batted as well as we could have this tournament.” “But maybe we’re saving the best for last.”
A World Cup-winning Indian cricketer has said in public that he “won’t give Pakistan even a 1% chance” before the final. Agha’s decision to go with a more conservative, situational strategy in a competition where scoring is quick sets the scenario for a tight fight of different ideas as Pakistan tries to win the Asia Cup title.