Asia Cup 2025: Biggest umpiring blunders and controversies

Published - 27 Sept 2025, 19:30 IST | Updated - 27 Sept 2025, 19:08 IST

The 2025 Asia Cup has seen some enthralling cricket, but the umpiring levels have been abysmally poor on occasions. Eight teams started the competition, and now the tournament is down to the final two who will lock horns on Sunday, September 28, at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, with the coveted Asia Cup title up for grabs.

India and Pakistan are going to meet in the finals of the Asia Cup for the first time in the tournament's history. It is worth noting that the Asia Cup was first played in 1984. In the 17th edition, India and Pakistan are finally going to collide in the final.

On that note, let us have a look at three instances where the umpiring decisions caught the attention of the cricket fraternity, but unfortunately for the wrong reasons.

Umpires Masudur Rahman and Ahmad Shah Pakteen made a huge blunder in the first innings of the Group A clash between Pakistan and Oman in Dubai. Sufyan Mehmood bowled a dot ball to Sahibzada Farhan to end the 10th over. Mohammad Haris, who saw the action from the non-striker's end, was supposed to face the first ball of the 11th over.

The umpires called for drinks to be taken. After the break, Farhan took strike instead of Haris and took a single off the first ball bowled by Aamir Kaleem. Neither umpire was aware of the fact that Haris should have taken strike. This raised questions about the focus of the two match officials in a big-ticket tournament like the Asia Cup.