New Delhi: The Super 4 of Asia Cup 2023, began with the hosts Pakistan registering a comfortable victory over the struggling Bangladesh.
Pakistan, who is one of the favourites to win this year’s Asia Cup, displayed their prowess by outshining the Bangladeshis in every department of the game.
Rizwan and Imam’s excellent half-centuries help Pakistan register a thumping win in the first Super 4 match 🙌#PAKvBAN | #AsiaCup2023 pic.twitter.com/ELzTjTk21v
— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) September 6, 2023
Earlier, Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan won the toss and opted to bat first, but the Pakistani bowlers soon made them realize their mistake by picking apart the Bangladeshi top order.
Bangladesh was soon reduced to 47 for 4 inside the first 10 overs of the game. However, Captain Shakib Al Hasan (53) and former skipper Mushfiqur Rahim (64), tried to script Bangladesh’s comeback by etching a 100-run partnership, but once Shakib was sent back to the pavilion by Faheem Ashraf, the rest of Bangladeshi innings collapsed once again losing the last 6 wickets for 46 runs.
Haris Rauf was Pakistan’s pick of the day with his brilliant four-fer, while Naseem Shah finished right behind him with 3 wickets. Pakistan’s hero against India, Shaheen Afridi, only got one wicket under his name.
Chasing down the low total of 194, never seemed to be a problem as with the help of Imam-ul-Haq (78) and Md. Rizwan (63*), Pakistan chases down the target comfortably with 7 wickets and 63 balls to spare.
With this win, Pakistan now jumps to the top of the Super 4 points table, while Bangladesh have now made their journey ahead way more difficult. The next match of Super 4 will be played between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh on September 9.
Babar Azam breaks record
Pakistani skipper Babar Azam needed only 6 runs before the match to complete his 2000 ODI runs as a captain, and when he achieved the feat in the 31 over of Pakistani innings, he also became the fastest player to do so.
Babar Azam, who achieved this incredible feat, took only 31 innings to cross the 2000 runs mark and overtook the former Indian captain Virat Kohli’s record, who took 36 innings to reach the milestone. The next three batsmen in the top five of this list are MS Dhoni, AB De Villiers and Michael Clarke.
