India vs Pakistan final: Morkel picks one ‘edge of the seat’ individual battle
India and Pakistan are meeting for the first time in an Asia Cup final. So far in the tournament, India are unbeaten and have defeated Pakistan twice
With India and Pakistan set to face off in the Asia Cup 2025 Twenty20 final in Dubai on Sunday (September 28), India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel has picked one “edge of the seat” battle between two players to watch out for.
Morkel has spoken about the match-up between India’s left-handed opening batter Abhishek Sharma and Pakistan’s left-arm opening fast bowler Shaheen Afridi.
What Morkel said
The former South African fast bowler has worked with both Abhishek and Afridi. Morkel had earlier worked briefly as a bowling consultant with the Pakistan team, where he had the opportunity to coach the left-arm speedster.
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“Shaheen is obviously an aggressive bowler who will try and knock you over. And Abhishek is not going to hold back. I think so far, every time these two went head-to-head, we all as cricket supporters and fans are on the edge of our seats, and that’s great for the game,” Morkel said after India’s thrilling Super Over win over Sri Lanka on Friday evening (September 26).
Both players are 25. However, while Afridi has been around for some time now, Abhishek has taken world cricket by storm with his dashing strokeplay in the ongoing Asia Cup.
Abhishek's domination of Afridi
The Indian hasn't endured a single failure in six games, scoring three fifties and three scores of 30 or more. In both the India versus Pakistan games held in Dubai so far, Abhishek has dominated Afridi.
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He started the September 14 game with a straight-driven boundary off a full-toss, and on September 21, he hooked him for a six behind square.
“Yeah, so let’s look forward to that on Sunday and enjoy the battle,” Morkel added on the two.
India and Pakistan are meeting for the first time in an Asia Cup final. So far in the tournament, India are unbeaten and have defeated Pakistan twice, once in the league stage and later in the Super Four phase.