In the virtual final of Asia Cup 2023, Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by 2 wickets and made their place in the final of the Asia Cup where they will face India. In the rain-interrupted match, Pakistan scored 252/7 after the loss of seven wickets. Sri Lanka got this target on the last ball of the innings.
After the match, Pakistani captain Babar Azam applauded the Sri Lanka cricket team for their strong performance. Pakistan’s star fast bowler, Shaheen Shah Afridi, added excitement to the match with his two back-to-back wickets in the 41st over. However, in the end, Zaman Khan couldn’t defend a nine-run in the last over, and Charith Asalanka scored the final runs to secure the victory.
After the match, Babar Azam took a moment to regret his choice to exclude the in-form bowler, Iftikhar Ahmed, from the bowling lineup. He also talked about the specific areas in which the team fell short of getting the desired result.
“In the end, we decided to bowl our best bowlers. That’s why I decided to bowl Shaheen and then we believed in Zaman Khan for the final over. SL played really well, they played better cricket than us, that’s why they won. We weren’t up to the mark with our bowling and fielding, that’s why we lost. In the middle overs, we are not bowling well. That partnership (between Mendis and Samarawickrama) cost us. We are starting well, we are finishing well, but we are not taking wickets in the middle,” Babar said after the match.
Pakistan team missed their star pacer, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf who are out due to their respective injuries. Shaheen Afridi almost took the match away from Sri Lanka but did not get the support from the other end.
