‘Har bande ka dil…’: Babar Azam delivers riveting speech after Pakistan secure World No.1 spot in lead-up to Asia Cup
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Warming up for the 2023 edition of the Asia Cup, Babar Azam’s Pakistan hammered Afghanistan in the final One Day International (ODI) encounter of its first-ever bilateral series against the Asian giant-killers on Saturday. Pakistan’s world-class batting duo of Babar and Mohammad Rizwan slammed half-centuries to help the visitors post a challenging total in the 3rd ODI at the R.Premadasa Stadium.
While Babar smashed 60 off 86 balls, wicketkeeper-batter Rizwan top-scored for Pakistan (67) as the Green Army posted 268-8 in the 50-over contest. Defending the 269-run target, Pakistan’s Faheem Ashraf bagged two wickets, including the jackpot scalp of Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who had smashed 151 in the 2nd ODI against the 1992 World Cup winners.
Triggering the batting collapse of Afghanistan in the third and final ODI of the series, Shadab Khan removed Riaz Hassan (34), Hashmatullah Shahidi (13), and Shahidullah Kamal (37) to put Pakistan in the driving seat. Leading the fightback for Afghanistan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman scored 64 off 37 balls although his heroics went in vain. The Rashid Khan-starrer side folded for 209 as Pakistan won the 3rd ODI by 59 runs.
‘Har bande ka dil saaf hai’: Babar delivers powerful speech ahead of Asia Cup
Babar’s Pakistan side has replaced five-time world champions Australia as the No.1 team in the ODI rankings before the Asia Cup. After Pakistan’s memorable series triumph, skipper Babar delivered an inspiring speech in the dressing room.”We are the number one team today because of our hard work. Hard work, up and downs, emotions, we have seen it all in life but this team’s unity didn’t break. A lot has happened but we have come up because of our bonding. ‘Har bande ka dil saaf hai’‘ (Every guy’s heart is pure). No one is thinking like, ‘He did this, why didn’t I?’. Everyone is happy with everyone else’s performance and this should stay like this,” Babar said.
India to meet Pakistan in Asia Cup opener
Pakistan’s Rizwan was named the Player of the Match for his valuable knock in the 3rd ODI. Opener Imam-ul-Haq took home the Player of the Series award. Imam scored 165 runs in the three-match series between the two nations in Sri Lanka. “Our bowling will win us the match on some days, on others, our batting will win it. We won’t say ‘this department is doing this, that department isn’t’. We’ll only talk like a team. There will be no ‘I’ but only ‘we’,” Babar added. Former champions India will meet Pakistan in its Asia Cup opener on Saturday.
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