Saim Ayub's horrendous Asia Cup form continued as he followed his two consecutive golden ducks with a second-ball duck in the third match against the UAE on Tuesday (September 17).
Three back-to-back ducks for Saim Ayub
The 23-year-old started with a golden duck in Pakistan's first Group A match against Oman, when he was trapped lbw after missing an attempted pick-up shot off left-arm seamer Shah Faisal.
The next game, his first international outing against India, saw the left-handed opener cut the first legal ball of the match straight to Jasprit Bumrah at point, giving Hardik Pandya and India the ideal start.
In both games, Ayub recovered from the batting failures to put in solid performances with the ball. Against Oman, he took 2-8 from two overs, a career-best effort which he bettered against India with 3-35.
Pakistan's match against UAE, a do-or-die game for both sides, started an hour later than scheduled time after Pakistan threatened a boycott. However, the change in start timings did not alter Ayub's fortunes, except for allowing him to face one extra delivery. After punching the first ball he faced to mid-off, Ayub slashed at a wide one off Junaid Siddique, only to find the deep third fielder and depart for a two-ball duck.
Match 10, Pakistan vs United Arab Emirates
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- Ball by ball Over
Ayub's extended poor form continues
This was his third consecutive duck in three games. The one positive for Pakistan from these three Ayub knocks was that he didn't waste balls, lasting for four deliveries combined.
This takes his tally of ducks to six in 2025 across formats. He started off with a duck in his first T20I off the year in May against Bangladesh. Between that and the Asia Cup, Ayub was out for zero in an ODI in the West Indies and in another T20I against Afghanistan in a tri-series.
Overall, Ayub has scored only 346 runs at an average of 17.30 across formats this year. In T20Is specifically, those numbers read 318 runs at 18.70 and a strike rate of 131.95.
Saim Ayub's batting record in 2025
| Format | Mat | Runs | HS | Ave | SR | 100 | 50 | 0 |
| ODIs | 3 | 28 | 23 | 9.33 | 60.86 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| T20Is | 17 | 318 | 69 | 18.7 | 131.95 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
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