Asia Cup | Twitter reacts as breathtaking Babar and incredible Iftikhar help Pakistan thump Nepal by 238 runs

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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Pakistan got off to a flying start in the 16th edition of the Asia Cup as an all-round effort helped them blow past Nepal in Multan on Wednesday. Tons by Babar Azam and Iftikhar Ahmed saw the hosts post a daunting 342/6 before a fiery display from the pacers helped bowl out their rivals for 104.

Nepal got off to an impressive start on their Asia Cup debut after being asked to bowl first as they sent both the Pakistan openers packing within the powerplay to have them reeling at 26/2 at one point. Skipper Babar Azam and wicket-keeper batter Mohammad Rizwan helped steady the ship with some calculated batting and put up a third-wicket partnership of 86 runs. They looked set to dominate the opposition for long but the latter committed the cardinal sin of not dragging his bat into the crease while sneaking a run that cost him his wicket for a flamboyant 44. Agha Salman lasted a paltry 14 balls to have the hosts in trouble again at 124/4 after 28 overs. However, thereon it was the Babar and Iftikhar Ahmed show as the duo piled on the runs against their Nepalese counterparts. The former registered his 19th ODI century to move to within one of Pakistan's record-holder Saeed Anwar and stepped on the accelerator thereon while Iftikhar kept slaughtering the bowlers from the other end. Together, the duo recorded the highest-ever ODI partnership in Pakistan of 214 runs from just 131 deliveries, as Azam ended on 151 off 131 deliveries while Iftikhar struck a 67-ball ton -- the fourth fastest in Asia Cup history. In the last eight overs, the Men in Green tallied 114 runs to set up an improbable target for their rivals.

In response, Nepal succumbed to the pressure from the get-go as Shaheen Afridi scalped two in the first over while Naseem Shah added another in the second over of the innings. Aarif Sheikh and Sompal Kami put up a brief fight with a partnership of 59 but were cleaned up by Haris Rauf in successive overs which spelt doom for the visitors. They eventually lost their last seven wickets for just 37 runs and folded out for a paltry 104, with Shadab Khan registering excellent figures of 6.4-0-27-4 in what became the second largest victory in Asia Cup history.

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