NEW DELHI: Nepal captain Rohit Paudel expressed the need for his team to significantly improve their batting performance following a substantial 238-run defeat against Pakistan in the opening game of the Asia Cup 2023 in Multan.
Pakistan demonstrated their dominance in the tournament's inaugural match, setting Nepal a formidable target of 343 runs, largely aided by centuries contributed by Babar Azam and Iftikhar Ahmed on Wednesday in Multan. Pakistan's bowlers then effectively contained Nepal's efforts, dismissing them within a mere 24 overs.
In the face of this defeat, Paudel highlighted the necessity for Nepal's batting unit to elevate their game and make a more impactful contribution moving forward in the tournament.
"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," Paudel said after the match in the post-match presentation.
Coming to the match, opting to bat first, Pakistan put on 342/6 in their 50 overs. Pakistan was reduced to 25/2 after Fakhar Zaman (14) and Imam-Ul-Haq (5) were dismissed. Babar then had an 86-run stand for the third wicket with Mohammed Rizwan (44 in 50 balls, with six fours) which helped Pakistan get to three figures. After the quick dismissals of Rizwan and Agha Salman (5), Pakistan was left struggling at 124/4 and from then on Babar and Iftikhar helped Pakistan recover.
Sompal Kami (2/85), Karan KC (1/54) and Sandeep Lamichhane (1/69) were among the wickets for Nepal.
In the chase, Nepal was left at 14/3 initially but a 59-run stand between Aarif Sheikh (26) and Sompal Kami (28) helped them get some temporary respite. But Haris Rauf and Shadab Khan caused more destruction, sinking Nepal to a 238-run loss after bundling them out for 104 in 23.4 overs.
Shadab was the pick of the bowlers for Pakistan, taking 4/27. Haris Rauf (2/16), Shaheen Afridi (2/27) also picked up two wickets. Also, Mohammed Nawaz got a wicket.
(With ANI inputs)
