Tag: Asia Cup 2022

DUBAI: Pakistan captain Babar Azam expressed excitement for leading his side in the final of the Asia Cup 2022 and claimed the men in green are now just one step away from lifting the trophy.

Babar, in a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) released video, opined regarding leading the side in the final of the continental event, while also claiming that his team is keen to perform well and win the tournament.

“As a captain leading a side in a final, it is exciting,” Babar stated. “We are now just one step away from our goal of winning the trophy. Every captain and team, dreams of winning the trophy. As a team, our goal is to perform well and win the tournament.

The all-format captain heaped praises on his teammates, who stood up for the team and won matches for Pakistan in this year’s Asia Cup, while also claiming that it helps pave the path for future success for the team as well.

“Looking back at this tournament, we have had some great matches and some tough contests. We have seen some great performances and different players have shone and won Player of the match awards,” Babar stated.

“When building a team, it is great for us that different players have stood up when it counts and helped the team win matches. As a captain, this is important for me, and it helps pave the path for future success for the team as well,” he concluded.

Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka, on the other hand, is confident in his team to do well in the Asia Cup 2022 Final against Pakistan and asserted that this has been one of the best Asia Cups for Sri Lanka Cricket.

“As a team, we are very excited to play the final, and Pakistan is a very good team, all the matches have been nailbiters and we are looking forward to the final,” Shanaka stated.

“As a tournament looking back this has been one of the best Asia Cups we have had, and we are looking forward to the final,” he concluded.

It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan will lock horns with five-time Asia Cup champions, Sri Lanka, in this year’s final, scheduled on Sunday, in a bid to lift the trophy for the third time. Pakistan last won the title in 2012 under the captaincy of Misbah-ul-Haq.

READ: Alcaraz to face Ruud for US Open title after epic semi-final triumph 

DUBAI: Pakistan’s hero of the Asia Cup Super Four clash against Afghanistan, Naseem Shah, who clinched the victory for the green shirts with two blistering hits in the final over, claimed that he has no desire of becoming an all-rounder yet.

Naseem interacted with the media here and responded to a question regarding his plans about becoming an all-rounder following his astounding blitz against Afghanistan in the tense Super Four clash and claimed that he has no such desires yet.

“In tape ball cricket and during previous batting practice sessions, I had also smashed sixes. When the opportunity arose, Allah aided me since I was trying to hit sixes if the ball came up and used to believe that a favourable moment would arrive,” Naseem stated.

“I put in a lot of effort to raise my performance. Right now, I don’t want to be an all-rounder, but I do my best to perform well whenever I get the chance to bat,” he maintained.

The right-arm speedster recalled the heated closing moments of the final-over thriller against Afghanistan and shared that he initially planned to give strike to Asif Ali, who, however, fell on the cusp of the 19th over.

“Earlier there was an attempt to give strike to Asif bhai by taking a single,” shared Naseem. “But when our nine wickets fell everyone was thinking that we have lost the match but thanks to Almighty Allah that we won that match and when I did not remember anything when I ran after hitting those sixes.”

Naseem continued by making a comment about the bat, which he had put up for auction and said he would use the proceeds to help flood victims.

“I have put the bat for the auction and I will donate the funds to the flood victims of our country,” he announced.

READ: Australia’s captain Finch calls time on his ODI career

DUBAI: Pakistan head coach Saqlain Mushtaq confirmed that the changes will be made to the Playing XI for the Asia Cup 2022 Final against Sri Lanka.

Following Pakistan’s disappointing loss to Sri Lanka in the last Asia Cup Super Four match on Friday, Saqlain assured at the post-match press conference that changes would undoubtedly be made to the Playing XI since it was important to give some of our players a rest.

“Fast bowlers are constantly playing and it is important to give them rest. We will learn from mistakes and play with passion in the final against Sri Lanka,” Saqlain said.

“It is certain that there will be changes for the final, some players were rested,” he maintained.

The head coach further opined on Pakistan’s middle-order vows and asserted that he is satisfied with the performance.

“We are playing T20 cricket well, the middle order of all teams are not scoring centuries. I will not comment much on the batting, I am happy and confident,” said Saqlain.

Saqlain then went on to comment on the recent slump in Babar Azam’s performance in the ongoing Asia Cup and stated that the latter is playing decent shots while the luck is not in the right-handed batter’s favour.

“Babar Azam has been playing well, playing good shots, but unfortunately the luck is not favouring him to go on and score big,” he claimed.

It is pertinent to mention here Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by five wickets in a dead rubber Super Four match on Friday before meeting in the final of the Asia Cup 2022.

READ: ‘We’ll not consider Pakistan an easy opponent’ Sri Lankan captain Shanaka 

DUBAI: Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka asserted that his side would not consider Pakistan an easy opponent despite beating the Green Shirts comfortably in the Asia Cup Super Four clash on Friday.

Following Sri Lanka’s comfortable five-wicket victory over Pakistan with 18 balls to spare, Shanaka, in a scheduled press conference, lauded his team’s brilliance in the Super Four stage of the tournament, while claiming that the Islanders would not take Pakistan easily.

“Our team’s performance in the Asia Cup remained quite brilliant. All the players in our team played really well in Super Four,” Shanaka stated.

“We do not consider Pakistan an easy opponent and will come strongly in the final as well,” he added.

Shanaka then went on to emphasize the importance of toss in the ongoing tournament, while also revealing the team’s strategy if they lose the toss in the final.

“The toss is very important in this tournament. If we lose the toss in the final and bat first, then we will try to score plenty of runs in the powerplay,” he concluded.

It is pertinent to mention here Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by five wickets in a dead rubber Super Four match on Friday before meeting in the final of the Asia Cup 2022.

READ: Pakistan Cricket Board unveils match officials for England T20Is 

DUBAI: Pathum Nissanka smashed a powerful 55 off 48 after spinners wreaked havoc on Pakistan’s batting line to claim a comprehensive five-wicket win over the Green Shirts on Thursday as the two side gear up for the Asia Cup final on Sunday.

Hasaranga de Silva remained impressive with the ball in the final encounter of the Super Four stage as he bagged three crucial wickets along with Maheesh Theekshana who claimed two, to restrict Pakistan to a paltry total of 121 after they were put to bat.

“I have come back strong with some good quality wickets, so happy. I tried bowling dot balls in first few overs, that’s why the three wickets came,” said Player of the match, Hasaranga in a post-match presentation.

Opener Nissanka starred with a blistering knock despite the initial blows early on in the chase as Mohammad Hasnain and Haris Rauf took wickets each in the first two overs.

Bhanuka Rajapaksa combined excellently with Nissanaka as the two stood firm for a valiant 51-run partnership after Sri Lanka were restricted to 29/3 in the fifth over.

Rajapaksa scored 24 off 19 before he fell prey to Usman Qadir in the 12th over. Skipper Dasun Shanaka, then contributed with a quick 21 off 16 and took the side towards a comfortable position in the game before Hasnain dismissed him in the 17th over.

Hasaranga, on the other hand, blasted two boundaries in the same over to finish the proceedings.

For Pakistan, Hasnain and Rauf bagged two wickets each while Usman Qadir had a wicket to his credit.

Earlier, Pakistan went for a dismal start to their innings as opener Mohammad Rizwan fell cheaply on 14 in the fourth over. None of the batters impressed with skipper Babar Azam, top scoring for the side with his cautious knock of 30 off 29.

“Our batting wasn’t up to the mark after the powerplay. We couldn’t build on from there,” said skipper Babar after the match.

Despite a valiant knock by Nawaz, late in the order,  as he smashed 26 off 18, Pakistan lost the last five wickets for the addition of mere 31 runs.

For Sri Lanka, apart from Hasaranga and Theekshana, right-arm pacer Pramod Madushan claimed two wickets while Chamika Karunaratne and Dhananjaya de Silva made a scalp apiece.

Pathum Nissanka shone with a powerful knock of unbeaten 55 off 48 to steer Sri Lanka towards a comfortable win over Pakistan by five wickets in Asia Cup Super Four stage encounter 

SL 124/5 (17 Over)

16.2: Shanaka gone. Slower ball does the trick and once again two Pakistan fielders nearly collide while taking a catch.

Hasnain to bowl his third over

SL 107/4 (16 Over)

Hasan Ali back into attack

SL 103/4 (15 Over)

Haris Rauf replaces Nawaz

SL 92/4 (14 Over)

Usman Qadir continues to bowl his last over

SL 87/4 (13 Over)

Nawaz to bowl his final over

SL 83/4 (12 Over)

11.3: Bhanuka Rajapaksa gone. The wristspinner breaks the 51-run partnership. Tosses it up, just outside off. Rajapaksa tries the slog sweep against the googly, but he’s only got the elevation.

Usman Qadir continues

SL 73/3 (11 Over)

Nawaz continues with his third

SL 68/3 (10 Over)

Usman continues

SL 57/3 (9 Over)

Nawaz continues

SL 53/3 (8 Over)

Usman Qadir joins Nawaz from the other end

SL 45/3 (7 Over)

Nawaz comes into attack

SL 37/3 (6 Over) 

Hasan Ali continues

SL 29/3 (5 Over) 

4.6: Good length ball angling into middle stump and de Silva has to offer a shot before he expected it. Tries to punch it leg side but the ball hits the face of the bat and goes high up in the air for mid off to run in and take the catch. 147kph, de Silva was definitely surprised by how quickly it got to him

Haris Rauf to bowl his second

SL 22/2 (4 Over) 

Hasan Ali comes into attack

SL 7/2 (3 Over) 

Hasnain continues

SL 3/2 (2 Over) 

1.2: Gunathilaka tried to set the tone by hitting a cut square, but the extra bounce induces the edge and Rizwan snaps this up! And he’s displayed some mega air time diving to his left

Haris Rauf to bowl from the other end

SL 2/1 (1 Over) 

0.2: The aggressive Kusal Mendis pokes at a short-ish ball that was seaming away from him. Played away from his body, takes the edge, and it floats into the hands of first slip.

Mohammad Hasnain to open the bowling attack for Pakistan. Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis to open Sri Lankan batting

PAKISTAN VS SRI LANKA (2nd INNING)

Spinners wreaked havoc on Pakistan batting line as Sri Lanka restricted the Green Shirts to 121 in the first innings of the Asia Cup 2022 Super Four encounter

PAK 121/9 (19 Over)

18.5: Mohammad Nawaz run out. Goes back and across, pulls this to deep midwicket, and risks a second. Nawaz dives in, but he falls short. Lovely throw on the top of the stumps

Madushanka continues to bowl the second last over

PAK 110/8 (18 Over)

17.5: Qadir tries the big slog sweep here but this is an offbreak that turns away from him outside off, and he gets a massive top edge to deep midwicket

Theekshana to bowl his last over

PAK 102/7 (17 Over)

Madushanka back into the attack

PAK 95/7 (16 Over)

15.6: Hasan shuffles across to try the big sweep, but is nowhere near the pitch, gets a massive top edge to be caught at deep square leg

Theekshana comes back to bowl 16th

PAK 91/6 (15 Over)

14.6: Hasaranga castles Asif Ali. He has picked the wrong’un, looks to play Hasaranga out, but the ball doesn’t turn as much and beats his outside edge to hit the off stumps

14.5: Hasaranga strikes right back. He shortens the length this time, Iftikhar still tries the slog-sweep, and might have connected still, but the ball stays low and deflects off his pad onto the wicket

Hasaranga to bowl his last

PAK 84/4 (14 Over)

13.3:  Khushdil skips down the wicket, but not quite to its pitch, and the ball turns too. Gets the toe end and skies it to long-on

Dhananjaya de Silva to bowl his final over

PAK 80/3 (13 Over)

Theekshana comes back to bowl his second

PAK 78/3 (12 Over)

Dhananjay de Silva back into the attack

PAK 74/3 (11 Over)

10.4: Babar sees the legbreak all right, goes down the track, swings across the line, but the ball just goes straight on to get him bowled

Hasaranga continues

PAK 66/2 (10 Over)

9.2: Fakhar picks the biggest part of the ground.  Seems like a decent hit, and perhaps would have been six from the other end. Here he finds deep this, Hasaranga, who times his leap to perfection

Chamika Karunaratne to bowl his first

PAK 62/1 (9 Over)

Hasaranga continues

PAK 60/1 (8 Over)

Dhananjaya to bowl the 8th

PAK 53-1 (7 Over)

Hasaranga comes into attack

PAK 49-1 (6 Over)

Madushan continues

PAK 34-1 (5 Over)

Dhananjaya de Silva joins the attack

PAK 34-1 (4 Over)

3.3: First wicket for Madushan. Wide length ball, gets some swing away, Rizwan has had enough half-hits, he is going for the big one, but the swing undoes him. Starts off thinking he will go over mid-off, but the swing means he is dragging it. All he manages is a top edge to short fine leg

Pramodh Madushan comes into attack

PAK 25-0 (3 Over)

Madushanaka continues

PAK 19-0 (2 Over)

Maheesh Theekshana to bowl from the other end

PAK 11-0 (1 Over)

Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam come out to open for Pakistan, Madushanka to bowl first over

PAKISTAN VS SRI LANKA (1ST INNING)

DUBAI: Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field first against Pakistan in the Super Four stage encounter of Asia Cup 2022.

PLAYING XIs

Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Asif Ali, Usman Qadir, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain

Sri Lanka: Dasun Shanaka (C) , Danushka Gunathilaka, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva, Chamika Karunaratne, Maheesh Theekshana, Dilshan Madushanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Pramodh Madushan

HEAD TO HEAD

Matches-21, Pakistan-13, Sri Lanka-8

DUBAI: Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field first against Pakistan in the Super Four stage encounter of Asia Cup 2022. 

The two team will also lock horns in the final on Sunday.

PLAYING XIs

Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Asif Ali, Usman Qadir, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain

Sri Lanka: Dasun Shanaka (C) , Danushka Gunathilaka, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva, Chamika Karunaratne, Maheesh Theekshana, Dilshan Madushanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Parmodh Madushan

DUBAI: India’s veteran batter Virat Kohli broke the shackles as he brought up his much-awaited 71st century in the Asia Cup Super Four dead rubber against Afghanistan before right-arm pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar decimated the Afghan batting line-up and powered the side to a massive 101-run victory.

Set to chase a mammoth 213, Afghanistan’s batting line-up failed completely and could only score 111/8 in the allotted 20 overs despite Ibrahim Zadran top-scoring with a gritty knock of 64 runs off 59 balls including four boundaries and two sixes.

Besides Ibrahim, only Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman get into the double figures in the run chase while the rest of the batters failed in their last match of Asia Cup 2022.

Bhuvneshwar was the pick of the bowlers for India as he bagged five wickets for a mere four runs, while Arshdeep Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Deepak Hooda made one scalp each.

At the toss, Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi invited India to bat first after the coin flipped in his favour.

His decision, however, did not seem to go well for his side as India’s new opening pair of Kohli and interim captain KL Rahul targeted the Afghan bowlers and scored at a blistering rate.

The duo appeared solid and were looking firm as both have amassed half-centuries before Fareed Ahmad struck in the 13th over to hand Afghanistan a much-needed breakthrough as he removed Rahul for 62.

The right-handed batter faced 41 deliveries and smashed eight boundaries including two sixes.

India’s top batter Suryakumar Yadav had a forgetful outing with the bat as he could score six runs off two deliveries and caused India to slip to 125/2 in 13 overs.

Following the slump, Kohli shifted the momentum into India’s favour as he joined hands with wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant and put on an unbeaten 87-run partnership for the third wicket.

The partnership remained majorly dominated by the right-handed batter as Pant could contribute 20.

Kohli, on the other hand, scored for India with a quickfire 122 off 61 deliveries, laced with 12 boundaries and six sixes.

The right-handed batter ended his century drought with his first in the shortest format of the game and 71st overall.

Fareed remained the pick of the bowlers for Afghanistan as he bagged the only two wickets, while the rest of the bowlers went wicketless.

READ: 

SHARJAH: Pakistan team batting coach Muhammad Yousuf lauded the young pacer, Naseem Shah, for his heroic batting effort in the Asia Cup game against Afghanistan on Wednesday, calling his two match-winning sixes in the final over the best shots of his career. 

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, the national team’s batting coach stated that the sixes hit by Naseem Shah were as memorable as Miandad’s final ball six in Sharjah in 1986 against India.

“We had started batting practice of Naseem at the academy two years ago and last night he gave a positive response to that and showcased a magnificent display of batting,” he said.

“When a player plays according to the situation it benefits the team and it benefits him as well. Those two shots by Naseem will be the best shot of his career” he added.

“The sixes were monumental. Might not be as historic as Miandad’s six since it was against India, however, if we look at the situation that we were into, those sixes are definitely memorable,” he added.

Talking about Babar’s dismal run with the bat in the ongoing Asia Cup, Yousuf said that there was nothing with his form or technique it was just hard luck.

“Babar is a world-class player. It’s not unusual that sometimes you try to give the best performance but still get out early,” he said.

He is not undergoing a rough phase or anything like that, it’s just the luck which is not in his favour.” he added

“The way he is playing his shots and the way he middles the ball it cannot be said that he is out-of-form, It is just the bad luck,” he said. “A top performer like Babar cannot fail if he sticks to the basics and continues to play with the right technique”

While opining on Rizwan’s sublime form in the tournament, Yousuf praised the fighting spirit of the No.1 T20I batter of the world.

“Rizwan battles for the team. Despite getting hurt in the match against India he was running enthusiastically between the wicket during the batting,” he concluded.

It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan edged past Afghanistan in a final-over nail-biter courtesy of two astounding sixes from Pakistan pacer Naseem that powered the side into the final of Asia Cup 2022.

READ: Pakistan to face Afghanistan, England in warm-up fixtures of T20 WC

SHARJAH: Pakistan’s hero of the all-important Super Four clash against Afghanistan – Naseem Shah said that people forgot that he is also a bowler.

Naseem, who smashed two sixes on the first two deliveries of the final over against Afghanistan and powered Pakistan into the final of the Asia Cup 2022 interacted with presenter Ravi Shastri and said that he was confident to win the match as he practised a lot in the nets.

“There was full confidence that we can win this match. We practice in the net, so we were confident that we would achieve the target,” said Naseem.

The speedster then went on to claim that his Afghanistan counterpart Fazalhaq Farooqi would bowl the yorkers and had full faith in himself for hitting those sixes.

“I knew the bowler would try to go for a yorker and was confident I could hit sixes. So, I tried and it paid off,” he stated.

Naseem then went on to reveal that he exchanged his bat with Mohammad Hasnain after Asif Ali’s dismissal in the 19th over and was confident that he will win it for Pakistan.

“After Asif Ali got out, I went to Hasnain and changed the bat, I had practised and was confident that we would be able to do it,” Naseem shared.

The right-handed batter then humorously said that after hitting those two sixes people have forgotten that he is also a bowler.

“Now people have forgotten that I am also a bowler,” he concluded.

It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan edged past Afghanistan in a final-over nail-biter courtesy of two astounding sixes from Pakistan pacer Naseem that powered the side into the final of Asia Cup 2022.

READ: ‘Naseem’s sixes remind us of Shahid Afridi’ says Shadab Khan