PAK vs NEP: "Credit To Babar Azam For The Way He Batted" - Rohit Paudel After Losing Asia Cup 2023 Opener

Nepal National Cricket Team under the leadership of Rohit Paudel lost the Asia Cup 2023 opening clash against Babar Azam-led Pakistan National Cricket Team by a huge margin of 238 runs at the Multan Cricket Stadium on Wednesday, August 30.

Losing the toss and bowling first, Nepal conceded 342 runs despite reducing the side to 124/4. The reason behind Pakistan posting a humongous total despite losing quick wickets was the sensational batting performance from Babar Azam and Iftikhar Ahmed. Babar scored 151 runs off 131 balls while Iftikhar Ahmed hit 109 runs off 71 balls.

Chasing the target, Nepal lost their top 3 inside two overs. Aarif Sheikh and Sompal Kami tried to stabilize the innings, but after they got out, Nepal lost wickets at regular intervals and got bundled out for just 104 runs.

All five Pakistan bowlers – Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Nawaz, and Shadab Khan – were among the wickets. However, Shadab finished as the top performer with 4 wickets in his bag.

Wicket-taking balls were not there in middle overs – Rohit Paudel

Speaking after the match, Nepal captain Rohit Paudel said that the Pakistan batters Babar, Mohammad Rizwan, and Iftikhar Ahmed took the game away from them. He lauded the Pakistan skipper as well as the entire team.

The Nepal captain expressed disappointment over the bowling performance of his side and said that the wicket-taking deliveries weren’t bowled. He further said that they will have to improve their death bowling and step up with the bat. Rohit said:

“We started well with the ball, but both set batters took the game away from us. We have batted better before and we missed out today.

“Wicket taking balls were not there in middle overs, but credit to Babar for the way he batted, credit to Pakistan. Learning from the game would be we need to improve bowling in death overs, as a group we need to step up with the bat.”