Pakistan skipper Babar Azam praised Abdullah Shafique and Mohammad Rizwan for their outstanding efforts as the Pakistan duo who helped their team achieve the highest-ever run chase in ODI World Cup history against Sri Lanka. Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets on Tuesday in Hyderabad to win their second World Cup match.
The Men in Green were put under a lot of pressure in the game after losing two quick wickets, but Mohammad Rizwan and Abdullah Shafique managed to score a hundred each in a historic run chase.
Speaking during the post-match presentation, Babar Azam hailed Abdullah and Rizwan for their calm and composed knock in the game to put pressure back on Sri Lanka in the middle overs and admitted that the team were poor on their bowling during the first 20-30 overs of the match.
“All credit to the boys, especially Abdullah and Rizwan, for the way they built the pressure and put pressure on Sri Lanka. We weren’t up to the mark in the first 20-30 overs. All credit to Mendis, he played an outstanding knock,” Babar Azam said.
Kusal Mendis and Sadeera Samarawickrama each struck a counter-attacking hundred throughout the match to enable Sri Lanka to reach a total of 344 runs after 50 overs.
Mohammad Rizwan’s reminded unbeaten on 131 and Abdullah Shafique’s 113 helped Pakistan break the record for the most successful run-chase in World Cup history.
We Finished Well, All Credit To The Bowlers – Babar Azam
Babar Azam feels that the victory was the result of teamwork rather than a lone effort. He gave the bowlers even more plaudits for winning the match and praised Shafique by mentioning how well the player did in his first World Cup.
“We finished well, all credit to the bowlers. (On Shafique) Very happy with the way he’s playing. This is his first World Cup. His hunger to play, I saw him in the nets so I decided to play him. The way Rizwan and Abdullah built the partnership, they helped us. We believed and built partnerships,” Babar Azam added.
On October 14, Pakistan will play their third ODI World Cup match against arch-rivals India. The Men in Blue have dominated the Babar Azam-led team in ICC competitions, but Pakistan will look to register their first victory against India in Ahmedabad.
