Watch: Salman Ali Agha smirks as reporter calls Afghanistan ‘second best in Asia’

Pakistan are all set to face Afghanistan and the UAE in a tri-series, starting on Friday, August 29 at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Salman Ali Agha will be leading the Men in Green, as they look to build some momentum ahead of the 2025 Asia Cup, which gets underway on September 9.

Ahead of the first match of the tri-series between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Agha addressed the media in a press conference. Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan and UAE skipper Muhammad Waseem were also present at the event. A reporter asked the talismanic Afghan all-rounder about the plans for the impending assignment while referring to the Blue Tigers as the second-best team in the continent on the back of their impressive T20 World Cup 2024 campaign, during which they qualified for the semi-finals.

The reporter’s question seemed to take Agha by surprise, causing a shift in his facial expressions, which were followed by a smirk. This happened pretty quickly, but fans managed to take note of it. They shared close-up pictures of Agha’s expression change on social media.

Afghanistan have been really impressive in ICC events of late. They finished with the same number of points as Pakistan in the 2023 ODI World Cup, even beating the former champions in a one-sided fixture in the round-robin phase in Chennai. In the 2024 T20 World Cup, the Men in Green failed to make it beyond the first round after suffering defeats to India and debutants USA. Afghanistan, on the other hand, reached the finals, beating top teams like New Zealand and Australia.

Afghanistan made their Champions Trophy debut earlier this year. They managed to beat England but couldn’t make it to the semi-finals from a tough group. On the other hand, Pakistan failed to win a game in the tournament. The two teams could face each other three times over the next few days in the tri-series. As far as the Asia Cup is concerned, they have been placed in different groups.