Asia Cup 2023: Babar Azam and Iftikhar Ahmed Gets Third-Highest Partnership In ODI Asia Cup History

The first match of the Asia Cup 2023 happened yesterday, and Pakistan went on to win the match, by a big margin of 238 runs. However, the key players behind this win were certainly Babar Azam and Iftikhar Ahmed. They both got the century and took the score to 342 runs for Pakistan. This is for sure a brilliant partnership for both the players and even the team. This is definitely a brilliant way to start the tournament. At the same time, this win has given a different stature to the Pakistan team in the tournament. 

Also read: Asia Cup 2023 1st Match: Babar Azam Gets Phenomenal 151 for Pakistan

The 214 runs partnership between Babar Azam and Iftikhar Ahmed 

The opening partnership for Pakistan was not a success. At the time Babar Azam came out to bat, the score was only 21-1. He ensured that he would go on to get a big score for the team. However, he kept on falling short of partners. Rizwan gave a little support to the team, but it was clear that more was required. Once Rizwan got out, that is when Azam and Ahmed had the responsibility to make a big score for the team. 

• The partnerships of Azam and Ahmed started at a score of 124-4. However, they didn’t look pressured at all, because they were able to get the boundaries consistently. This was a brilliant way to perform for the team.
• Both the batters made sure that they were going to maintain a strike rate of over 150. For that by the end of their innings, they got 4 sixes each.
• Nepal was not able to take so much pressure, and the bowlers were not able to maintain the momentum that was required. 

Nepal’s performance during the run chase

During the run chase, the performance of Nepal was definitely not good at all. They lost 3 wickets only at the score of 14. Even after that the wickets consistently kept falling. Only at the score of 104, the whole Nepal team was wiped out by Pakistan. 

Pakistan has got a great start, and they only need to capitalize on it.