Babar Azam breaks his silence after Pakistan’s elimination from Asia Cup 2023
Babar Azam (source-Twitter)
The Asia Cup defending champions Sri Lanka won a thrilling contest in the last ball against Pakistan on Thursday. The win for the home side meant that Sri Lanka will now play India in the finals on Sunday. Pakistan needed a win to make it the first-ever India-Pakistan final in the history of the Asia Cup.
Kusal Mendis and Charith Asalanka were the heroes with the bat for Sri Lanka during the chase. Post the loss Pakistan captain, Babar Azam seem devastated as he reflected on the loss. Pakistan had begun the tournament with an imposing win against Nepal. In the Super-4 stage, they had beaten Bangladesh by 7 wickets before losses to India and Sri Lanka.
Babar Azam speaks up after Pakistan vs Sri Lanka match
Pakistan skipper Babar Azam cut a frustrated figure at the end of the game. Speaking in the post-game presentation, Azam said “We just decided to bowl our best overs and asked Shaheen to bowl the second last over and believed in Zaman. Sri Lanka played very well, better cricket than us. Babar Azam lamented the lack of effort with the ball and also in the field. The Pakistani skipper said “We have not been up to the mark in the bowling and fielding. That is why we lost the match. In the middle overs, we did not bowl well. That partnership cost us. We started well, ended well, but middle overs were not great. We have lacked that,”
Pakistan won the toss and chose to bat first. The match started as a 45-over encounter due to rain. This was further reduced to 42 overs after there was a brief stoppage in play due to a downpour. Mohammad Wasim Jr replaced Haris Rauf while Zaman Khan made his debut in place of Naseem Shah. Abdullah Shafique came in for Imam Ul Haq while Mohammad Nawaz replaced Agha Salman. Sri Lanka made one change as Pramod Madushan came into the playing XI.
Pakistan scored 252 from their 42 overs with opener Shafique scoring 52 off 69 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes. Babar Azam was out stumped off Wellalage for 29. The top score for Pakistan was from the bat of Mohammad Rizwan. The Pakistan wicket-keeper hit 86 runs off 73 balls with 6 fours and 2 sixes. Iftikhar Ahmed batted well to score 40-ball 47 with 4 fours and 2 sixes.
Chasing 253 to win, Kusal Perera was run out for 17. The top scorer was Kusal Mendis with 91 which came off 87 balls with 8 fours and a six. Sadeera Samarawickrama scored 48 crucial runs. Charith Asalanka was not out 49 as he hit the winning runs off the last ball much to the delight of the home fans.
