Pakistan is facing Sri Lanka in a virtual semi-final of the ongoing Asia Cup 2023 at the R.Premadasa stadium in Colombo on Thursday as whoever wins, will confirm their place in the event's final.
Pakistan, once again, faced an early collapse but Abdullah Shafique's maiden One Day International (ODI) fifty provided a much-needed break to the Green Shirts but the wickets continued to fall for Pakistan.
Pakistan were 130-5 when Mohammad Nawaz lost his wicket and it looked like the team would not cross the 180-run mark but Mohammad Rizwan and Iftikhar Ahmed combined forces to change the fortunes of the struggling Pakistan side and took them to a competitive total of 252 runs in 42 overs.
Rizwan accelerated his innings and orchestrated Pakistan's comeback in the game with his spectacular 86 off 73 while Iftikhar supported the wicketkeeper batter and played a mature innings of 47 off 40.
The two batters gathered praise for their crucial knocks from fans and former cricketers on social media.
Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and opted to bat first in a must-win match which was delayed and then reduced to 45-overs due to rain.
It must be noted that if rain washes out the play without Sri Lanka playing at least 20 overs, the match will end without a result and the home side will qualify due to their better net run rate (NRR) than Pakistan.
Playing XI
Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Haris, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Zaman Khan.
Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis (wk), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka (c), Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana, Pramod Madushan, Matheesha Pathirana
