The Pakistan Cricket Team's inconsistent performances have seen them crash out of the T20 World Cup 2024 in the group stage and also exit from a home ICC event - Champions Trophy 2025 event in the first round. Worst, they have also gone through a major overhaul in the last few month, with a lot of captains and coaches being changed. Current T20I leader Salman Ali Agha has also seen the snubs of two Pakistani icons Babar Azam & Mohammad Rizwan from the T20I team. Given the team's recent struggles in white-ball cricket, the media and experts have not given them a chance to lift the Asia Cup.
However, the Men in Green are known to be unpredictable, and it is this quality that makes them an extremely dangerous side. Before the Continental Cup, Agha & Co. have a chance to find some consistency in the upcoming tri-series, as they will battle it with Afghanistan & UAE, starting on Friday, August 29. Afghanistan arrive in the tri-series as one of the contenders to lift the Asia Cup, considering the form they have displayed in T20Is last year. They also qualified for the semis of the T20 World Cup 2024.
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A Pakistani reporter, while raising a query during a press conference on Thursday, August 28, stressed on the point on how the Afghans are the second-best team in the T20 World Cup behind only champions India. While the question pleased the Afghan captain Rashid Khan, it certainly did not go down too well with Agha, who was seen smirking in response to the question. A video of the same has quickly gone viral.
Tri-series a golden opportunity for Pakistan to fix team combinations
The tri-series gives Pakistan a good chance to fix team combinations ahead of the Asia Cup, starting on September 09. Agha & Co. have had an iffy run of form after the T20 World Cup 2024. They lost a T20 series to Bangladesh. A lot of transition was also seen with two senior players, Babar & Rizwan ignored from the T20Is. A lot of new players like Saim Ayub, Hasan Nawaz, & Mohammad Wasim Jr, and others have made their debuts in this period.
However, few senior players like Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, & Fakhar Zaman have retained their places in the team. Now, the onus is on these three to perform well and help the new T20I skipper, Agha, to have a smooth transition. Also, there are a lot of expectations from young opener Ayub to perform well, as the PCB see him as a generational talent.
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