3 positive takeaways for Pakistan after early exit in Asia Cup 2023
Pakistan were knocked out of the ongoing Asia Cup after suffering a defeat during a cliffhanger at the hands of Sri Lanka in their final Super 4 game.
The match went down to the wire, but it was Charith Asalanka who held his composure to take his side over the finish line on the final delivery of the match.
The performance of the Men in Green was nothing short of shambolic against their arch-rivals India. They fought valiantly against a resurgent Sri Lankan side, but it was the acting hosts who had the last laugh.
Pakistan had started their Asia Cup campaign with a resounding victory against Nepal. Their pace battery breathed fire and they were touted as the overwhelming favorites to win the Asia Cup.
Even in their group game against India, the pace brigade looked lethal as they reduced their arch-rivals to 67/4 before Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya steadied the ship with a brilliant partnership, eventually taking them to a competitive score of 266.
In their return leg, the Pakistan bowlers were smashed to all corners of the park as India piled on a massive score of 356. They were never in the game during the run chase, eventually losing by a massive margin of 228 runs.
Pakistan made as many as five changes to their playing XI after Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf were ruled out due to injuries. Mohammad Wasim Jnr and Zaman Khan were handed opportunities. A valiant effort with the bat was not enough as Sri Lanka won the nail-biting thriller.
Depsite the defeat, Pakistan has a few positives to take from this six-nation tournament. Let us decipher 3 positive takeaways for Pakistan depsite getting knocked out:
#1 The emergence of Iftikhar Ahmed as an all-rounder
Despite Pakistan's super-four exit from the Asia Cup, the all-round performance of Iftikhar Ahmed was a silver lining for the No. 1 ODI side in the world. While he has chipped in with overs in the past, Iftikhar's bowling came off age in the tournament.
In his brief ODI career, Iftikhar has already played a few stellar knocks. He started the tournament with his maiden ODI century against Nepal before a significant all-round contribution in the must-win game against Sri Lanka.
Iftikhar scored 47 off 40 deliveries which played a part in Pakistan reaching a competitive score of 252 in 42 overs. Just when the shoulders were dropping, Iftikhar made an impact with the ball.
Bowling his gentle off breaks, Iftikhar made three important breakthroughs and almost bowled Pakistan to a victory. He bagged the wickets of Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama and Dasun Shanaka, but that wasn't enough to win it for Pakistan.
At the World Cup, the bowling of Iftikhar will give a lot of confidence to Babar Azam. If Iftikhar can chip in with a few overs every innings, a lot of problems can be solved for Pakistan, especially in the middle overs.
#2 Shaheen Afridi continues his wicket-taking spree
The Pakistan speedster has been a bit off-colour in the last couple of games but his wicket-taking abilities have still been on display. He finished the tournament with 10 wickets in 5 matches at an average of 23.50.
Afridi started the tournament with a couple of wickets against Nepal before ripping apart the Indian top order in the next game.
He bagged the wickets of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in his opening spell before returning to dismiss Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja in his final spell.
He was carted for some runs by Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma during their Super 4 clash, but made amends by dismissing Gill. It was an expensive spell as he looked a bit rusty.
Shaheen went for some runs against Sri Lanka as well, but it was his 2 wickets in his final over which turned the game. He conceded 4 runs and bagged 2 wickets to keep Pakistan in contention.
#3 Mohammad Rizwan's form
One of the integral members of the Pakistan white ball set-up, Mohammad Rizwan looked in great touch with the bat during the Asia Cup. Barring a failure against India, Rizwan has looked in stupendous touch.
He scored an exceptional unbeaten 86 off 73 deliveries against Sri Lanka and was hardly troubled by any bowlers. He found gaps to perfection and it was a perfect ODI innings.
Rizwan started with a 44 against Nepal, before scoring his first half-century of the tournament against Bangladesh in their first Super 4 clash. He scored 195 runs in 5 games.