Saim Ayub Joins Unwanted List with Rizwan After Golden Duck in Asia Cup Opener

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s young opener Saim Ayub has joined an unfortunate list of batters after being dismissed for a golden duck in the Asia Cup 2025 opening match against Oman.

Facing Shah Faisal in the second delivery of the match, Ayub attempted a leg-side shot but was trapped LBW without scoring. This marked the fourth time in his T20I career that the left-hander has been dismissed for zero.

With this dismissal, Ayub now equals senior openers Mohammad Rizwan and Mohammad Hafeez, who also have four ducks in T20 internationals. Babar Azam tops the list with six ducks, followed by Kamran Akmal with five. Meanwhile, Hasan Nawaz and Shahzaib Hasan have three ducks each.

Despite this setback, statistics show Ayub maintains a batting average in the low 30s with a strike rate of 136.22. Experts and fans remain hopeful that the young batter will find greater consistency and contribute significantly to Pakistan’s batting lineup in the future.