Salman will lead Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2025
Salman will lead Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2025 for the first time. Pakistan, with its 17-player squad, is going to play the Asia Cup 2025 and the tri-nation series in the UAE. The continental tournament will feature eight teams this season, and there will be two groups. Pakistan will play this tournament without two star batters, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan. The 17th edition of the Asia Cup will start on 9th September 2025 in the United Arab Emirates.
Salman Ali Agha, Pakistan Captain, is going to play his aggressive form of cricket with a new T20 squad. Babar and Rizwan were the top performers in the T20 cricket for Pakistan over the years. They have not performed well in this format for over a year, and this pushed selectors’ decisions. Before the Asia Cup 2025, Pakistan will play a tri-nation series against the UAE and Afghanistan. The tri-nation series will start on 29 August and will be a warm-up for the event.
Mike Hesson is the new coach for Pakistan, and he focuses on aggressive cricket. He has been leading Pakistan since he took charge in May. Under his leadership, Pakistan has been victorious in two T20 series from three. He said, No doubt Babar is a great player, but he needs to improve various aspects of this format of cricket.
This continental event, the Asia Cup, has been played 16 times, and Pakistan has won just two titles. In the year 2000, Moin Khan led Pakistan to lift its first Asia Cup Trophy. Then the 2nd in 2012, where Misbah-ul-Haq led Pakistan.
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Pakistan Asia Cup 2025 squad
Pakistan Asia Cup 2025 squad comprises 17 players.
Salman Ali Agha (captain),
Abrar Ahmed, Salman Mirza,
Faheem Ashraf, Saim Ayub,
Fakhar Zaman, Hasan Ali,
Haris Rauf, Khushdil Shah,
Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Haris (wk),
Hussain Talat, Mohammad Waseem Jnr,
Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Shah Afridi,
Sahibzada Farhan and Sufyan Moqim.
Pakistan cricket team squad analysis 2025
Captain Salman Ali has won two series first against Bangladesh at home and against the West Indies in the US. He is an inexperienced leader who is going to lead a new emerging team in the Asia Cup 2025. The experienced players, Shaheen, Fakhar Zaman, and Haris Rauf will remain part of the T20 squad.
Naseem Shah has been removed from the squad, and Mohammad Wasim Jr has been included in the squad. The reason is that the performance of Naseem has not been great in the recent contests. There are various reasons for Naseem’s removal. In the year 2022, he bowled in16 innings and got 14 wickets with 7.17 economy. Since 2023, Naseem has played 13 innings and gotten 11 wickets with an economy of 9.04. This is the major reason to drop Naseem from the squad.
On the other hand, M Waseem Jr has displayed a great performance during the middle and death overs. He has a 42.7 dot percentage during these stages of the game due to his variations. Waseem has a good economy rate of 8.35 in this format of the game. He can make a great pace bowling stand for Pakistan with Shaheen, Hassan, and Haris Rauf.
Mike Hesson has selected the speedster Salman Mirza in the squad for this event. He took this decision due to his brilliant performance in the current series against Bangladesh. In this series, Salman took seven wickets in three contests with a 5.21 economy rate.
Tri-nation series schedule 2025
| Match | Date | Time | Location |
| AFG v PAK | 29 August | 7 pm local time | Sharjah |
| UAE v PAK | 30 August | 7 pm local time | Sharjah |
| UAE v AFG | 1 September | 7 pm local time | Sharjah |
| PAK v AFG | 2 September | 7 pm local time | Sharjah |
| PAK v UAE | 4 September | 7 pm local time | Sharjah |
| AFG v UAE | 5 September | 7 pm local time | Sharjah |
The final of this warm-up series will be played on 7th September in the venue.
Asia Cup 2025 Schedule for Pakistan
Hong Kong, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates are the qualifiers in the event, alongside 5 permanent members. This tournament is important for the T20 World Cup 2026.
| Match | Date | Time | Venue |
| Oman v Pakistan | 12 September | 6 pm local time | Dubai International Cricket Stadium |
| India v Pakistan | 14 September | 6 pm local time | Dubai International Cricket Stadium |
| UAE v Pakistan | 17 September | 6 pm local time | Dubai International Cricket Stadium |
The teams that will qualify for the matches of Super Fours matches will play from 20 to 26 September. These contests will be played in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The two finalists of the Asia Cup 2025 will play at DICS on 28 September.