Aug 31 (Reuters) – Pakistan captain Babar Azam said his team will be full of confidence for Saturday’s big Asia Cup match against arch-rivals India, after opening their campaign with a comprehensive win against Nepal on Wednesday .
Babar led from the front with a masterful 151 and Iftikhar Ahmed produced an unbeaten 109 to lead Pakistan to a towering 342-6 run at Multan Cricket Stadium.
The tournament co-hosts returned to eliminate Asia Cup debutants Nepal 104 in 23.4 overs for what was their third-biggest one-day international win.
“This match was a good preparation for the match against India because it gave us confidence,” said Babar, who was named Man of the Match for his 19th one-day hundred.
“India-Pakistan will always bring a lot of intensity. We want to give 100% in every match and we hope to do it there too.”
Babar is the highest ranked ODI batsman and the elegant right-hander proved why with his excellent hitting pace.
Pakistan lost their first two matches early but Babar combined with Mohammad Rizwan (44) to stop the slide before Iftikhar joined the party.
Babar took 72 balls to add to his 50, but soon hit the gas and ran to a hundred balls off 109. After that, he hit in T20 form, hitting 51 of the next 22 balls he faced.
“When I came in, the ball wasn’t going in correctly, so I tried to build a tackle with Rizwan,” Babar explained.
“Iftikhar also played big tackles when he came on.
“When he came in, I told him to play his natural game and he felt comfortable after hitting limits of two or three.”
They now fly to Pallekele to face India, who play their games in Sri Lanka after refusing to travel to Pakistan due to poor political relations between the neighbours.
Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; edited by Peter Rutherford
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