Cricketer-turned-expert Ravichandran Ashwin has slammed the lack of competition in the ongoing Asia Cup 2025 tournament. Speaking on his YouTube channel ahead of India's opening clash against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday, September 10, the former India off-spinner made some brutal remarks about the Continental Cup event.
Speaking ahead of India's opening encounter today, the expert said that the standard of the Asia Cup was so pathetic that it could not act as a curtain raiser for the next year's T20 World Cup 2026, set to be played in India & Sri Lanka in February & March.
“They can almost include a South Africa and make it an Afro-Asia Cup to make the tournament competitive. As it is now, they should probably include an India A side for it to be some contest. We’ve not even spoken about Bangladesh. Because there is nothing to talk about with them. How are these teams going to even compete against India?” R Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
Notably, Ashwin's remarks have come after Hong Kong was no match to Afghanistan in the opening match of the Continental Cup on September 09. The Afghans thrashed their opponents by a whopping margin of 94 runs.
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Afghanistan are no match to India: Ashwin
Chasing a huge target of 189, Hong Kong could just manage 94/9 in their 20 overs, as they could not even put up a fight. Despite the resounding win by the Rashid Khan-led side, the former off-spinner stated the Afghans are no match for India as well.
“This is not some curtain raiser for the 2026 T20 World Cup, it’s only a curtain. This tournament isn’t some major yardstick for it. Even against the so-called threat of the Afghanistan bowlers, if India bat well and score 170+, who will Afghanistan chase this down with? It’s nearly impossible,” he said.
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“The only way to defeat India is by somehow restricting them to 155 on a good day, and then chasing it down. Normally, a T20 is thrilling, but India will likely make even that one-sided in this Asia Cup,” concluded the former India spinner.
