India got off to a strong start in their Asia Cup 2025 campaign, with a thumping 9-wicket win over the hosts, in Dubai on Wednesday evening.
India bowlers ripped through UAE’s batting lineup, bundling them out for just 57, thanks to Kuldeep Yadav's 4/7 upon his return to the playing XI. Shivam Dube picked 3/4 while Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel and Varun Chakravarthy scalped one each.
Chasing the modest target, Abhishek Sharma blasted 30 off 16 balls as India raced home in just 4.3 overs for a commanding nine-wicket win.
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Following India's dominating performance, former Pakistan captain and coach Misbah-ul-Haq credited India's developmental cricket for producing such talented cricketers.
Here's what he had to say.
Misbah-ul-Haq hails India’s grassroots cricket after dominant Asia Cup 2025 start
While reviewing India's win with Tapmad, Misbah took a slight dig at how Pakistan develops their players and compared the situation to India.
The former batter with over 11,000 international runs heaped praise on how the Indian age-group cricket focuses more on basics than trying to prepare players for T20 leagues.
READ MORE: Asia Cup 2025 squads: Check full team lists for all 8 nations in UAE T20 tournament
Misbah hinted that some Pakistan players struggle at the highest level due to a lack of the basics, which has taken the former world champions to the number 7 Test and ODI rankings.
"Leagues are for a different purpose, we [Pakistan] probably do not understand the concept. Watch any of their [India's] players, they are not made in the leagues [IPL]. If you watch the YouTube videos, even the smallest of their clubs and academies work on players' basics, whether it is U13 or school cricket.
"You cannot be taught to play the forward or the backfoot defence after playing Test cricket for your country. They start from their childhood — bowler's alignment, action, run-up and everything," he concluded.
Following Pakistan's struggle across formats, PCB has recently decided to overhaul the team and picked a young and exciting side for Asia Cup, leaving the likes of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan out.
They will play their first match of the Asia Cup against Oman on September 12, followed by the India game on Sunday, where they will look to upset the world champions.
READ MORE: Top 10 lowest scores in Asia Cup history: India bowlers breaks record vs UAE
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