Defending champions India had already sealed their place in the ACC Asia Cup 2025 Final before turning up for their final group-stage fixture against Sri Lanka. But the last edition’s runners-up, who were already out of contention for the summit clash after losing back-to-back matches in the Super Fours, gave a tough fight to the Men in Blue ahead of the much-anticipated India vs Pakistan Final on Sunday.
While defending a 200-plus total without the prime pacer Jasprit Bumrah, the team’s two frontline pacers of the night continued to concede runs at an expensive economy. Arshdeep Singh, who recently became the only Indian player to reach the milestone of scalping 100 T20I wickets, registered an economy rate of 11.50. Moreover, youngster Harshit Rana even surpassed him to concede runs at a high economy of 13.50, including three over-boundaries and six fours. Following this, former Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin has slammed the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) pacer for his poor bowling strategy.
The pacer has been given limited opportunities in the ongoing multi-national tournament, as India opted for Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube for their seam-bowling options alongside Bumrah. Furthermore, Harshit Rana had featured in only one T20I fixture in January 2025 before playing his first match against Oman in the Asia Cup 2025. However, even after considering the adversities, Ashwin opined that the on-field errors made by the 23-year-old “were really amateurish.”
“I just want to speak about Harshit Rana. It’s not easy to play one match and then sit out. It could really be flattening for your confidence, and also be a bit rusty. But the mistakes made by Harshit against Sri Lanka were really amateurish,” stated the former player on his YouTube channel.
The all-rounder also praised the tremendous bowling effort from the side to clinch back the game after conceding 72 runs in the powerplay. Sri Lanka were well on course to chase down the target after putting up 114/1 halfway through the match. But the spin-tricks from Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy in the middle overs helped to slow down the pace of the Lankan’s fiery run-chase as they ended up levelling the score after 20 overs, pushing the final league-stage fixture to a nail-biting super-over finish. However, India ultimately carried on with their unbeaten streak in the tournament by winning the super-over.
“I thought the game was done in the powerplay, but India made a stellar comeback after that. Harshit Rana was cranking up the speed. One fast, one slow and one fast and one slow. That is a really amateurish way of playing cricket. He should really learn from this,” observed Ashwin.
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The arch-rivals India and Pakistan will go head-to-head for the third consecutive Sunday in the Asia Cup 2025. This will be the maiden Asia Cup Final involving these two teams in 41 years. Suryakumar Yadav and Co. would look to register a hat-trick of wins over the Men in Green, after defeating them in successive fixtures in the group stage and the Super Fours, respectively.
On the other hand, Pakistan would also want to bounce back in the ultimate clash and avenge the previous losses to claim their third Asia Cup title. Especially after a charged-up performance to defend a low total of 135 against Bangladesh, which secured their place in the Asia Cup 2025 Final. The enthralling Final between these two sides will take place at the Dubai International Stadium on September 28.
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