IND vs PAK: 'We Will Try To Do Our Best Against India' - Babar Azam After Dominant Win Over Nepal In Asia Cup 2023

The Babar Azam-led Pakistan National Cricket Team crushed the Nepal National Cricket Team in the Asia Cup 2023 opening clash by a massive margin of 238 runs at the Multan Cricket Stadium on Wednesday, August 30.

With the victory in the match, Pakistan achieved their third-highest margin of win in ODIs and their biggest win at home in the 50-over format in terms of runs. Overall, this was the second biggest margin of the win by runs in the Asia Cup, only behind India’s victory of 256 runs over Hong Kong in the 2008 edition of the tournament.

Babar Azam was the chief architect behind Pakistan posting a mammoth total of 342/6 and with the ball, all the bowlers did a great job to restrict Nepal to 104 runs.

Speaking during the post-match presentation ceremony, Babar Azam, who won the Player of the Match award, said that he and Rizwan supported each other very well and steadied the ship when Pakistan were in trouble while batting first. Notably, the star batters added 86 runs together in 106 balls before the bizarre dismissal of Rizwan. Babar Azam said:

“When I went in, the ball wasn’t coming on properly, so I was trying to build an innings with Rizwan. Then we had a different phase, sometimes Rizwan gave me confidence, sometimes I gave him belief.”

Iftikhar also played a great innings – Babar Azam

Babar Azam further lauded Iftikhar Ahmed for his terrific ton in the match. The middle-order batter smashed an unbeaten 109 runs off 71 balls, including 11 fours and 4 sixes. Babar Azam said:

“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 2-3 boundaries. A couple of overs we weren’t up to the mark, but the way our pacers started and then the spinners were brilliant.”

While talking about the high-octane clash against India on September 2 in Pallekele, Babar Azam said that they will try to give their best performance in the match.

“This win will give us confidence, India, Pakistan match is always a high-intensity match so we will try to do our best.”

Babar Azam finished his innings with 151 runs off 131 balls, including 14 fours and 4 sixes, and he also stitched together an outstanding 214 runs in 131 balls with Iftikhar Ahmed.