Match 11 of the ongoing Asia Cup 2023 witnessed a nerve-wracking and gripping game between Sri Lanka and Pakistan. The home side Sri Lanka emerged victorious in this game and booked their place in the finals.
Despite rain playing spoilsport in the game, we witnessed a result as Sri Lanka kept their nerves under immense pressure and outclassed the number 1 ODI side in the world. Sri Lanka have now made their way to their 12th Asia Cup finals and will be crossing swords with India on 17th September 2023.
Pakistan had several injury headaches and that costed them the game at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Babar Azam and co. suffered losses in their last two games of this competition and crashed out of the tournament.
Much to the disappointment of Babar Azam, his side couldn’t even reach the finals. They will have to go back to the drawing board and fix a lot of things before the ICC ODI World Cup 2023.
In this article, we take a look at the top 3 talking points of PAK vs SL in the ongoing Asia Cup 2023 tournament:
1. Pakistan’s inexperienced bowling attack succumbing under pressure
After injuries to Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf ruled them out of this match versus Sri Lanka, Pakistan had to field young and inexperienced bowlers. One of them was debutant Zaman Khan.
Even though he performed well for his first game, the lack of experience was clearly visible. Babar Azam had the option of going in with Iftikhar Ahmed, who had taken 3 wickets in the game, for the last over, but he chose Zaman.
In the last delivery of the game where 2 runs were required, Zaman Khan bowled a delivery down the leg side (despite having a packed off-side) to Charith Asalanka and he simply glanced it square off the wicket and won the game for Sri Lanka.
2. Charith Asalanka’s fantastic innings
As more and more dot balls started coming in, the pressure started surmounting for Sri Lanka. But Charith Asalanka held fort from one end and made sure that the home side crosses the finishing line.
Asalanka scored 49* runs in 47 deliveries and played a fantastic knock to steer them to a hard-fought victory. Asalanka’s four in the second-last over off the bowling of Shaheen Afridi showcased that he had nerves of steel.
3. Mohammad Rizwan and Iftikhar Ahmed’s partnership
At a time when Pakistan were tottering at 130-5, Mohammad Rizwan and Iftikhar Ahmed stitched a fabulous partnership and made sure that Pakistan reach a commanding total. Rizwan was unbeaten on 86* and Iftikhar scored 47 runs in this game.
If this partnership didn’t flourish, Pakistan would have lost the game in the 1st innings itself.
Also read: IND vs BAN, Today Match Prediction, Match 12, India vs Bangladesh, 15th September August 2023
