Pakistan skipper Babar Azam admitted that his team was 10-15 runs short against arch-rivals India in their opening match of Asia Cup 2022. Pakistan posted a moderate 147 all-out on the scoreboard after being asked to bat first and many predicted it to be a one-sided affair after the first innings, however, the bowlers pulled them back in the game with collective performance.
At one stage, Pakistan were at the top of the game while defending the target as India needed 51 runs from the last five overs. However, the Pakistan pacers Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah suffered some cramps as Hardik Pandya got the job done for India.
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Babar heaped praises on his bowlers to take the game closer by putting pressure on India by picking wickets at regular intervals.
“The way we started (with the ball), was great. We were about 10-15 runs short. Bowlers did really well to make a match of this,” Babar said in the post-match presentation.
The Pakistan skipper further hailed Shahnawaz Dahani, who smacked a couple of maximums in the last two overs, which helped Pakistan to score a challenging total.
Asia Cup 2022 India vs Pakistan Match Highlights
“Dahani stepped up with the bat which really gave us something to defend, but it’s a shame we couldn’t finish it off,” he added.
Pakistan hold back spinner Mohammad Nawaz for the final over as Babar revealed the idea about it and said they wanted to have about 15 runs to defend in the final over.
“Thought was to take the game deep (and hold back Nawaz’s last over). Idea was to create pressure but Hardik finished well,” Babar added.
Debutant Naseem Shah was the pick of the bowlers as he claimed two crucial wickets of KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav while giving away just 27 runs.
Babar heaped praises on him and said he stepped on the occasion with the new ball in the absence of Shaheen Shah Afridi.
“We missed the experience of Shaheen but Naseem stepped up on the occasion. He (Naseem) is a very young bowler but bowled so well, and showed so much aggression,” he concluded.
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