Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi has reignited debate over umpiring standards in the Asia Cup 2025 after Fakhar Zaman\u2019s controversial dismissal during the Super 4 clash against India in Dubai on Sunday, September 21.<\/p>\n
Speaking on a panel with Samaa TV, Afridi took a cheeky dig at the officials, remarking, \u201cThey need to work in the IPL also.\u201d His comments came after several members of the Pakistan cricket fraternity expressed dissatisfaction with the third-umpire decision.<\/p>\n
The incident occurred in the third over of Pakistan\u2019s innings after India elected to bowl first. Fakhar Zaman, who looked in touch with three early boundaries, edged an off-cutter from Hardik Pandya<\/a>. Wicketkeeper Sanju Samson dived forward to claim the catch, but replays suggested the ball may have touched the ground before being gathered. After a lengthy review, the third umpire ruled the batter out, leaving Fakhar frustrated.<\/p>\n Former batting legend Mohammad Yousuf also backed Afridi, pointing out that he had begun confidently against India\u2019s premier fast bowlers, including Jasprit Bumrah, before his innings was cut short.<\/p>\n “He was our main player, he started off well hitting a few boundaries against world-class bowlers (Jasprit Bumrah),” Mohammad Yousuf also commented in the same panel.<\/p>\n Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha voiced his doubts at the post-match press conference<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t really know about the decision. As far as I\u2019m concerned, I thought it bounced. Umpires can make mistakes, and that\u2019s understandable. To me, it looked like it bounced, but I could be wrong,\u201d he said. He further suggested that Fakhar\u2019s aggressive start could have powered Pakistan to around 190 had he continued.<\/p>\n Stay updated on Asia Cup 2025<\/a> with India Today! Get match schedules<\/a>, team squads, live score<\/a>, and the latest Asia Cup points table<\/a>.<\/p>\n Pakistan eventually posted 172 runs, thanks largely to Sahibzada Farhan\u2019s gritty 58. India, however, made light work of the chase. Abhishek Sharma struck a blistering 74 off 39 balls while Shubman Gill contributed 47 as India wrapped up victory with six wickets in hand and 7 balls to spare.<\/p>\n Now Pakistan will bank on their remaining games against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to ensure they have the best chance of qualifying for the final where a third IND vs PAK clash could be on the cards.<\/p>\n – Ends<\/p>\n Published By: <\/p>\n Amar Panicker<\/p>\n Published On: <\/p>\n Sep 23, 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi has reignited debate over umpiring standards in the Asia Cup 2025 after Fakhar…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32410,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[15299,27345,27349,27342,85,27343,27346,46,27347,27350,27344,27348,27341,105],"class_list":["post-32409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-asia-cup-2025","tag-asia-cup-2025-pakistan-vs-india","tag-asia-cup-2025-super-4-pakistan","tag-fakhar-zaman-dismissal","tag-il","tag-ind-vs-pak","tag-ipl-umpiring-comment-afridi","tag-israel","tag-mohammad-yousuf-reaction","tag-pakistan-cricket-news-2025","tag-pakistan-cricket-umpiring-controversy","tag-salman-ali-agha-interview","tag-shahid-afridi","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}