After playing a brilliant innings of 151 runs against Nepal, Babar Azam scored 10, 17 and 29 runs in the remaining three matches:
Colombo (Urdu Point latest newspaper. September 14, 2023) National team captain Babar Azam failed to score a half-century despite playing three innings after a gap of 5 years. Babar Azam has scored 10, 17 and 29 runs in the remaining three matches after playing a brilliant innings of 151 runs against Nepal in the Asia Cup. This is the first time since September 2018 that Babar Azam has failed to score a half-century in three consecutive ODI innings.
Earlier, Babar Azam had scored 9 and 1 runs against India and Bangladesh respectively in the Asia Cup 2018 and after that he suffered from zero runs in the first ODI against New Zealand. It should be noted that in the important match of the Asia Cup Super Four stage, Pakistan has given a target of 253 runs to Sri Lanka for success.
Pakistan did not start well in the match against Sri Lanka being played in Colombo. Abdullah Shafiq and Fakhar Zaman faced difficulties, Fakhar Zaman was clean bowled by Pramod Madhushan in the 5th over. A partnership of more than 50 runs was established between Babar Azam and Abdullah Shafiq, Babar Azam returned to the pavilion after scoring 29 runs. Abdullah Shafiq also got out after scoring 52 runs.
Muhammad Haris caught Parithana's ball. Harris scored only 3 runs. Mohammad Nawaz was bowled by Mahesh Thekshana, he scored 12 runs. On this occasion the match was stopped due to rain, later the overs were further cut and the match was restricted to 42, 42 overs per innings. After the rain, Muhammad Rizwan and Iftikhar Ahmed played aggressively, Rizwan completed his half-century, Iftikhar was dismissed for 47 runs.
Pakistan scored 252 runs in the allotted 42 overs, but after DLS adjustments, Sri Lanka were given a target of 252 runs to win. Mohammad Rizwan scored an unbeaten 86 off 73 balls, the wicketkeeper-batsman's innings included 2 sixes and 6 fours. On behalf of Sri Lanka, Mathisha Pathirana took 3 wickets, Pravamod Madhushan took two wickets while Mahesh Theekshana and Donath Velalage took one wicket each.
In the match, national team captain Babar Azam won the toss and decided to bat first. Babar Azam said that two more changes have been made in the team announced yesterday, Imam-ul-Haq has back pain while Saud Shakeel is not part of the playing XI due to fever. On this occasion, Sri Lankan captain Dasan Shanaka said that Pakistanis will try to keep the minimum target by taking wickets early in the batting line.
He said that two changes have been made in the team, Kaushal Perera and Pramod Madhushan have been included in the squad. Earlier, the toss of the match was delayed due to rain, due to which the umpires have restricted the contest between the two teams to 45, 45 overs. On the other hand, if the match against Sri Lanka is rained out or if Sri Lanka wins, then they will qualify for the final and the journey of the national team will be over. The team that wins the match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka will take on India in the final of the event on September 17.
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