50 overs Pakistan 342 for 6 (Babar 151, Iftikhar 109*, Kami 2-85) vs Nepal
Batting was tricky in Multan and Nepal had made early breakthroughs to leave Pakistan in a precarious position. During that time, Babar consolidated the innings, taking 72 balls to reach his fifty. Gradually increasing the tempo, he took just 37 balls to move from 51 to 100. Once he reached his hundred, he went into the T20 mode and smashed 51 off the next 22 balls.
Suryakumar Yadav, on Monday, said that ODIs force one to bat like all three formats. On Wednesday, Babar showed how to do it.
Nepal were making their Asia Cup debut, and playing against Pakistan for the first time in any format. That inexperience, and probably the nerves, showed multiple times during the innings. Early on, Sompal Kami and Karan KC drifted down the leg side every now and then. Fakhar Zaman picked up two leg-side boundaries off Kami in the first three balls of the innings but the slowness of the pitch and some good fielding came to Nepal’s rescue.
With the ball not coming onto the bat, both Fakhar and Imam-ul-Haq struggled for timing. When Fakhar threw his bat at a length ball from Karan, and got a thick outside edge, the wicketkeeper Aasif Sheikh stretched to his left to grab the catch with both hands.
In the next over, Imam hit one hard towards mid-off and set off for a quick single. Rohit Paudel fielded the ball, took aim and nailed the direct hit. Imam was so far short of the bowling crease that he didn’t even wait for the TV umpire’s decision.
With Pakistan 25 for 2, Mohammad Rizwan joined Babar in the middle, and the two started rebuilding the innings. Playing risk-free cricket largely and still picking up a boundary here and there, they took the side to 100 in the 22nd over.
But then Nepal struck back, once again via their fielding. This time Dipendra Singh Airee, from cover, hit the stumps at the bowler’s end to find Rizwan’s bat and both feet in the air as the batter tried to avoid getting hit by the throw. Had Rizwan run normally and grounded his bat, he would have been safe. He made 44 off 50 balls.
