Multan : August 30: Pakistan got off to a winning start in the Asia Cup thanks to Babar Azam’s 151 and Iftikhar Ahmed’s brilliant century, defeating Nepal by 238 runs in the first match. Pakistan is hosting the Asia Cup after 15 years and the opening match was played at the Multan Cricket Stadium after a grand ceremony where captain Babar Azam won the toss and decided to bat first against Nepal. Zaman’s poor performance continued and he was dismissed for 14 runs off 21 balls he faced. Imam-ul-Haq was also soon run out on 25, having scored 5 runs off 14 balls.
Mohammad Rizwan came in to support Babar Azam and the two experienced batsmen took the score to 111 runs and tried to get the team out of trouble. Mohammad Rizwan scored 44 runs off 50 balls with 6 fours but an important one. Babar Azam completed a half-century in the first match of the Asia Cup, but Agha Salman could not support him for long from the second end and got out for 5 runs. Babar Azam and Iftikhar Ahmed were the best. The partnership boosted Pakistan’s score and in the process the skipper completed his 19th ODI century.
Iftikhar Ahmed completed his half-
century off 43 balls. When Babar Azam scored an individual score of 143 runs, he became the second batsman to play the highest innings in the Asia Cup, before him in 2012, India’s legendary batsman Virat Kohli. scored 183 runs against Pakistan. The captain of the national team crossed the milestone of 150 runs for the second time in his ODI career and won the honor of playing the highest individual innings for Pakistan in the Asia Cup. Babar Azam and Iftikhar Ahmed put together a partnership of 214 runs off 131 balls, which included Babar Azam’s 102 runs and Iftikhar’s 109 runs, which is Pakistan’s highest fifth-wicket partnership. It is the fourth fastest century of the Asia Cup. Babar Azam was caught out by substitute fielder Jura in the last over off Sompal Kami, but he played a brilliant innings of 151 runs off 131 balls with the help of 14 fours and 4 sixes.
Shadab Khan came in to bat in the last two balls and was bowled on the last ball after hitting a boundary. Pakistan scored 342 runs for 6 wickets in the allotted 50 overs. Iftikhar Ahmed scored 109 not out with the help of 11 fours and 4 sixes from 71 balls. Sompal Kami took the most 2 wickets from Nepal. Nepal chased down the big target with a boundary off Shaheen Shah Afridi on the first ball, but the Maynaz bowler had Kaushal Bhartel caught by Mohammad Rizwan on the fifth ball. Shaheen Shah Afridi scored the second victory by sending Nepal captain Rohit Paudel to the pavilion on the last ball of the first over. Naseem Shah dismissed Asif Shaikh, who had scored 5 runs, in his second and first over of the innings. Pakistani bowlers took Nepal’s 3 wickets for 14 runs and made Nepali team,
inexperienced in the world of cricket, difficult. Arif Sheikh and Somp Kami put on a 59-run partnership for the fourth wicket for Nepal to take the score to 73 runs. Fast bowler Haris Rauf took Pakistan’s fourth wicket in the 15th over to end a good Nepal partnership, Arif Sheikh scored 26 off 38 balls with 5 fours. Haris Rauf also targeted the second batsman Sompal Kami in his next over, who scored 28 runs off 46 balls with 4 fours. Nepal’s 5 wickets had fallen on the score of 82. Mohammad Nawaz scored 3 runs on the score of 90 and blew the wickets of Deep andra Singh. Vice-captain Shadab Khan dealt Nepal another blow in the 22nd over when Gulson Jha, who played a 13-run innings, was caught by Fakhar, at which time Nepal’s score was 91 and it was the seventh wicket to fall. Shadab dismissed Sandeep Lemechen for a wicket on the fifth ball of the 22nd over. Shadab Khan took the last two wickets in the 24th over of the innings to dismiss Nepal for 104 runs. The entire team of Nepal was bowled out for 104 runs on the fourth ball of the 24th over and Pakistan won the match and got valuable points. For Pakistan, Shadab Khan took the most 4 wickets, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf dismissed 2 and 2 players respectively. Naseem Shah and Mohammad Nawaz got one wicket each. Pakistan captain Babar Azam was adjudged the man of the match for his brilliant innings. Earlier after winning the toss, national team captain Babar Azam said that the pitch is looking good , so we have decided to bat first. He further said that he wanted to give confidence to the team for the match, so the playing eleven had already been announced, we will enjoy our cricket, we will play good cricket in the Asia Cup. Both teams were for the match, Pakistan: Babar Azam (Captain), Fakhr Zaman, Imamul Haque, Muhammad Rizwan, Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Muhammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf.. Nepal: Rohit Paudel. (Captain), Kaushal Bhartel, Asif Shaikh, Arif Shaikh, Kaushal Malla, Deepandra Singh Airey, Gulsan Jha, Sompal Kami, Karan KC, Sandeep Lemechen, Lalit Lajbanshi,
It should be noted that a month before the start of the World Cup, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will jointly host the Asia Cup from August 30 to September 17.
According to the schedule, 4 matches of the tournament will be played in Pakistan while the rest will be played in Sri Lanka.
The matches between Pakistan and India will also be held in Sri Lanka as the Indian board refused to send its team to Pakistan for the tournament.
The opening match of the tournament is scheduled today between the hosts Pakistan and Nepal, apart from this, 3 more matches will be played in Pakistan, in which Bangladesh and Afghanistan will meet in Lahore on September 3, while Sri Lanka and Afghanistan will compete in Lahore on September 5.
Apart from this, a Super Four group match will be played in Lahore on September 6.
The all-important match between arch-rivals Pakistan and India will be played on September 2 in Palelly, Sri Lanka.
The final of the Asia Cup will be held on September 17 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
