The hope of watching Pakistan play in the final of the Asia Cup 2023 was destroyed by Babar Azams's poor captaincy yesterday. Pakistan batters did really well on a pitch that supported spinners but what about running between the wickets? They could have added an additional 50 runs if they had taken those singles and doubles. The outcome of the match would have been different if those runs were on the scoreboard.
The most important thing to make so steal so many runs in the powerplay and if you see Pakistani batsmens they were looking to defend the wicket. In first 4 overs Pakistan scores only 9 runs while Srilanka scores 20 runs in three over. This is the difference. If Pakistan scores good runs in the powerplay tham they could add 20-30 runs extra and yes you are also right, rotating strike and easy single double is also necessary in ODI cricket which could also add 30-40 runs. There was so many dot balls and very less boundaries in the first 20 over.
I was expecting Pakistan to defend the target of 252 runs, sloppy fielding and bad bowling is the reason for the loss. Shahdab Khan, Shahenshah Afridi, and Iftikhar Ahmad were leaking runs. They did take wickets but that did not help the Pakistan team as their economy was either near to 6 or above 6. Why wasn't Mohammad Nawaz given his full set of overs? He was doing good in restraining the Srilankan batters. Why was a debutant, Zaman Khan given the last over to bowl which was so crucial? These are some questions that the PCB needs to ask Babar Azam.
actually pitch was not in the favor of Pakistani pace bowlers. Shaheen shah afridi was trying so hard but there was no spin in the new ball and Pakistan two experienced fast bowlers was also unfit which cause this happened yesterday. Srilanka batsmens were so good and they was trying for a boundary in every over.
Zaman khan is good bowlers and he performed well in the Pakistan premier league especially in dead overs and there was no choice other than zaman. Zaman bowled well last over. The four in the fifth ball was totally luck because the ball goes between keeper and slip. Last ball was not good but over all an easy match for Srilanka turned out to be tough one in the last overs. Pakistan need quality spin bowler like saeed ajmal and need fitness for the world cup.