‘Ye toh jeetna hi tha’ – Fans react as Pakistan defeat Nepal in opening match of Asia Cup 2023

The inaugural match of the 16^th edition of the Asia Cup was pretty much one-sided affair with the Pakistan team registering a thumping win over the debutant Nepal team by 238 runs on August 30 at Multan Cricket Stadium in Multan. With this win the number 1 ranked ODI side has started the tournament with a bang and showed why they are one of the favourite of winning the Asia Cup 2023 as well as the upcoming World Cup 2023 which is scheduled to be played in India.

The match started with Pakistan winning the toss and electing to bat first. They did not have the best of the starts as they lost both their openers, Fakhar Zaman (14) and Imam-ul-Haq (5) inside the first powerplay. But after that, the duo of skipper Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan steadied the ship and stitched a partnership of 86 runs. Before Rizwan (44) got out trying to sneak in a cheeky single. Agha Salman (5) who is being given a chance to bat at number 4 too did not make the most of the opportunity and was caught reverse sweeping off the bowling of Sandeep Lamichhane.

Pakistan’s dominance over debutant Nepal

When things looked a little gloomy, Iftikhar Ahmed took the attack from one hand, and scored runs at a brisk pace. Skipper Azam too joined the party as both the batters went bonkers in the last 15 overs of the Pakistan innings. The 28-year-old talismanic batter scored his 19^th ton and yet again proved why he is currently the number one ranked ODI batter in the world. Furthermore, Iftikhar too went on to score his maiden century in the ODI cricket. Babar’s classy knock of 151 included fourteen fours along with four sixes, while Iftikhar’s sensational hundred included eleven fours and four maximums.

Courtesy of some exceptional range hitting in the death overs, the host posted a total of 342 runs in their 50 overs. In reply to this humongous total, the visitors did not have the greatest of starts as the Nepal side lost their skipper Rohit Paudel (0) and Kushal Bhurtel (8) in the very first over of the match off the bowling of Shaheen Afridi. The other opener Aasif Sheikh (5) soon followed to the dugout in the very next over to the bowling of Naseem Shah. But then, Aarif Sheikh (26) and Sompal Kami (28) tried to stitch together a partnership of 59 runs before the former was done for pace by fiery Haris Rauf. Sompal too followed the footsteps of his batting partner.

The Nepal side were 73/4 at one stage and then kept on losing wickets at regular intervals which saw them getting bundled out for 104 in just 23.4 overs. For the Pakistan team, Shadab Khan was the wrecker-in-chief as the spinner ended with a figure of 4/27. This is the third biggest win for the Pakistan team in ODI history. Babar Azam was adjourned as the player of the match for his exceptional batting performance.

Let us now look at how Twitter has reacted to his thumping win from the Pakistan side: