India’s T20I batters dominate Asia Cup 2025 rivals—outrunning all teams in powerplay, middle overs and death with staggering strike rates.
Afghanistan and Pakistan were not up to the mark compared to Team India in terms of batting dominance during their respective opening clashes of the Men’s Asia Cup 2025. The Blue Brigade chased down their target of 58 runs in just 4.3 overs against the United Arab Emirates in Dubai. At the same venue, Pakistan somehow managed to make their way to 160 against Oman.
Meanwhile, in Abu Dhabi, Afghanistan found themselves at 95/4 in 13 overs against Hong Kong. Had Azmatullah Omarzai not played a sensational knock of 53 runs in 21 balls, it could have been a dismal result at the end. It’s also the same case with Sri Lanka. They were bundled out for 80 runs against Zimbabwe during the second T20I of the recent series in Harare.
That’s a huge gap between India and the other Asian sides in the shortest format. Since the start of the T20 World Cup 2024, India have earned 25 victories in 29 encounters with three defeats. The next best are Pakistan, who have won 16 out of their 32 T20Is, while Bangladesh earned 14 wins in 29 games. Sri Lanka experienced their worst performance with just eight wins in 20 fixtures.
Read More: History of Asia Cup in T20 format: Top batters, bowlers & other numbers
Let’s break down India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka’s batting performance in different phases.
India shows aggression in power play with risk-free planning
Since the start of June 2024, India have smashed 1510 runs in 29 innings inside the first six overs. Their strike rate of 145.89 is way ahead of the other sides. Sri Lanka come second, but even their strike rate of 129.44 isn’t promising.
Teams’ batting performance in powerplay (1-6) since 01 Jun 2024
| Team | Inns | Runs | Outs | Avg | SR | HS |
| India | 29 | 1510 | 54 | 27.96 | 145.89 | 95 |
| Pakistan | 32 | 1334 | 65 | 20.52 | 116.10 | 75 |
| BAN | 28 | 1173 | 57 | 20.58 | 116.37 | 67 |
| Sri Lanka | 20 | 932 | 29 | 32.14 | 129.44 | 83 |
| AFG | 17 | 609 | 30 | 20.30 | 99.51 | 66 |
One of the key talking points in T20Is these days is the number of sixes. India’s 76 sixes during this period are way ahead of Pakistan’s 47 sixes, who are in second place. Afghanistan (16) will need to work a lot on this department.
For India’s success, Abhishek Sharma has played a huge role. The southpaw has nailed 331 T20I runs in 16 powerplay innings at a strike rate of nearly 180 in this period.
Read More: Numerical story of India’s batting dominance in T20Is post T20 WC 2022
India’s continuous dominance in middle overs of innings
After a strong start in the power play, it’s equally important to continue the dominance in the middle overs. Since the start of June 2024, India have nailed 117 sixes with a strike rate of 146.64. Pakistan’s second-best strike rate of 122.14, with 92 sixes over boundaries, doesn’t qualify among the best teams.
Teams’ batting performance in middle overs (7-15) since 01 Jun 2024
| Team | Inns | Runs | Outs | Avg | SR | HS |
| India | 28 | 2072 | 52 | 39.85 | 146.64 | 146 |
| Pakistan | 31 | 1986 | 83 | 23.93 | 122.14 | 118 |
| BAN | 28 | 1729 | 72 | 24.01 | 115.88 | 98 |
| Sri Lanka | 20 | 1282 | 50 | 25.64 | 118.70 | 104 |
| AFG | 17 | 1000 | 40 | 25.00 | 111.23 | 90 |
Given that the Salman Ali Agha-led side have lost 83 wickets during this period in 31 innings, they never get the firepower. It’s an art to find sweet timing against the spinners and also keep the scorecard ticking with singles and doubles. It’s a balancing act after all.
Hasan Nawaz has done that well with 318 runs at a strike rate of 167.37. For the current T20 champions, captain Suryakumar Yadav has clubbed 252 runs in 12 T20I innings at a strike rate of just below 150.
Read More: Varun Chakravarthy & Kuldeep Yadav in T20 cricket: A comparative analysis
India’s firing batting ends with death overs’ brilliance
Apart from the powerplay and middle batting, finishing perhaps is the hardest job in T20s. The specialised batters have to start nailing the big shot from the very first delivery. Their strike rate of 167.01 is again way ahead of the other top-tier Asian sides.
Teams’ batting performance in death overs (16-20) since 01 Jun 2024
| Team | Inns | Runs | Outs | Avg | SR | HS |
| India | 24 | 1119 | 59 | 18.97 | 167.01 | 84 |
| Pakistan | 29 | 1116 | 76 | 14.68 | 147.23 | 77 |
| BAN | 26 | 906 | 56 | 16.18 | 138.32 | 75 |
| Sri Lanka | 20 | 611 | 63 | 09.70 | 122.20 | 77 |
| AFG | 16 | 576 | 43 | 13.40 | 144.00 | 78 |
Sri Lanka have struggled the most in this aspect with a strike rate of 122.20. In the case of individual brilliance, Hardik Pandya has earned the most success with 265 runs. The right-handed batter smacked those runs in the death overs at a T20I strike rate of 187.94. Pandya’s 20 sixes in death overs since the start of June 2024 also sit at the top of the ladder.
India will aim to stretch the same batting dominance till their T20 World Cup defense next year at home. For other Asian sides to compete with them, they need to develop their batting. And it’s not about only one phase. It’s the batting from top to bottom.
*BAN – Bangladesh, *AFG- Afghanistan
Read More: Asia Cup 2025: Do Afghanistan start as second favourites after India?
