Team India was at its dominating best during the Asia Cup 2025 match against Pakistan in Dubai on Sunday. Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha won the toss and opted to bat first but that decision backfired as they were restricted to 127/9 in 20 overs. Sahibzada Farhan scored 40 runs off 44 balls and became the top-scorer for Pakistan. Later, India chased down the target in just 15.5 overs with skipper Suryakumar Yadav standing unbeaten at 47 off 37 balls.
Pakistan received severe criticism for their poor show from many former cricketers and fans. However, former pacer Mohammad Amir backed Salman Ali Agha and co, amid all the crictism and even slammed the former cricketers for demotivating the young Pakistan team.
"Kuchh logo ko main dekh raha hu apna hi agenda leke baith gaye hain. Yeh kisko leke aaye ho, ye uska muqabla karega? Matlab ki ye log wait kar rahe the ek match hare aur in baccho k peeche padh jaye." (I am seeing a few people have started propagating their own agendas. Why is this player on the team? How does he compete with that player? It is like they were waiting for Pakistan to lose one match to start criticising these youngsters.)" Amir said in a video posted on X (formerly Twitter).
In this edition of Asia Cup, Pakistan snubbed the likes of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan after their back-to-back failures in the shortest format. Amir did not take anybody's name but stated that youngsters should be backed as the experienced players also could not achieve anything big.
"Aap in bachho ke peeche aise padh gaye ho. Jin player o ka naam le rahe ho, who experienced the. Panch-panch chhay-chhay saal khele hain, kaptaniya ki hain, sara kuchh kiya hain. Yeh bacche ek match kya flop huye hain, aaplog to yaar saaare peeche padh gaye ho." (The players you are talking about were experienced. They have played for more than five-six years, captained the team, done everything. These kids have just flopped one game, and you all have started criticising them. Have patience.)" he added.
"Jinki aap baat kar rahe ho na, kisine kuchh nahi ukhada. Paanch-paanch chhay-chhay saalo mein kisine kuchh nahi ukhada. Sab ke paas performances hain, stats bhi hain, kisine kuchh nahi ukhada." (The players you all are talking about have done nothing great. They have played for five to six years, and everyone has their stats and performances; no one has done anything great.)" said Amir.
Both India and Pakistan are highly likely to face each other again in the Super Four clash of Asia Cup on September 21.