Pakistan captain Babar Azam stated his group might be brimming with confidence for Saturday’s Asia Cup blockbuster towards arch-rivals India after kicking off their marketing campaign with a complete victory towards Nepal on Wednesday.
Babar led from the entrance with a masterly 151 and Iftikhar Ahmed produced an unbeaten 109 to energy Pakistan to a commanding 342-6 on the Multan Cricket Stadium.
The event co-hosts returned to skittle out Asia Cup debutants Nepal for 104 in 23.4 overs for what was their third-biggest victory in a one-day worldwide.
“This game was good preparation for the India game because it gave us confidence,” Babar, who was named Player of the Match for his nineteenth one-day hundred, stated.
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“India-Pakistan will always bring high intensity. We want to give 100% in every match, hope to do that there as well.”
Babar is the top-ranked ODI batter and the trendy right-hander proved why together with his wonderful pacing of his knock.
Pakistan misplaced each their openers early however Babar mixed with Mohammad Rizwan (44) to arrest the slide earlier than Iftikhar joined the celebration.
Babar took 72 balls to carry up his 50 however quickly stepped on the fuel and raced to a 109-ball hundred. After that, he batted in T20 trend, milking 51 off the subsequent 22 balls he confronted.
“When I went in, the ball wasn’t coming on properly, so I was trying to build an innings with Rizwan,” Babar defined.
“Iftikhar also played a great innings when he came on.
“When he came in, I told him to play his natural game and he was comfortable after hitting two-three boundaries.”
They now fly to Pallekele to face India, who’re enjoying their matches in Sri Lanka having refused to journey to Pakistan due to soured political relation between the neighbours.
Source web site: sportstar.thehindu.com
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