WATCH: Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi Get ANGRY On Shadab Khan After His Misfielding During PAK vs SL Asia Cup 2023 Super 4 Clash
On Thursday, emotions ran high during Pakistan's match against Sri Lanka in the Super 4 stage of the Asia Cup 2023, which was contested at R Premadasa stadium in Colombo. Pakistan has been under constant siege since the beginning.
The possibility of rain washing out the game, therefore ending their campaign, was on their minds. Furthermore, Babar Azam and company have to win the match.
In the end, Pakistan's luck ran out as Sri Lanka won by just two wickets (DLS method). Sri Lanka has secured a berth in the final, while Pakistan will return home.
There was one occasion in the second innings of the match that demonstrated how tense Pakistanis were. Shadab Khan made a costly mistake in the 37th over. Sri Lanka hitter Charith Asalanka attempted to steal a single in this over bowled by Shaheen Shah Afridi.
Shadab, who was fielding, retrieved the ball and hurled it at the stumps. However, there was no replacement for this throw, allowing the Lankan batting tandem to sneak another run.
Pakistan didn't have many runs to defend, and this throw cost them two more. This irritated Pakistan captain Babar Azam as well as spinner Shahid Afridi.
Babar raged at his vice-captain Shadab for this blunder, which led to Pakistan losing the match on the penultimate ball. The video of Babar and Shaheen losing their calm in the aftermath of the overthrow has gone viral.
Pakistan must be kicking themselves for making so many mistakes against Sri Lanka. Not to mention that they failed to read the conditions correctly before losing Mohammad Nawaz while batting. On the fourth delivery of the 28th over, he became the fifth wicket to fall.
Rain began to fall severely shortly after that wicket, and another 30 to 40 minutes were wasted. After then, the match was reduced to 42 overs per side.
Pakistan finished with a total of 252 for 7 after 42 overs. However, because of the Duckworth-Lewis technique, one run was removed from the total. That DLS approach was only used because Nawaz died just before rain. Sri Lanka would be chasing 255 if Pakistan had not lost the fifth wicket before rain.