Former Indian wicketkeeper-batter Deep Dasgupta hailed the Pakistan skipper Babar Azam for his brilliant century in the Asia Cup opener against Nepal in Multan on Wednesday. The 28-year-old continued his rich form scoring his 19th century in the ODI format of the game.
Babar has scored his 31st century across the format for Pakistan, with an average of 59.5 in the ODI format in 102 innings, his latest century came against the Nepal team on Wednesday, where he scored 151 runs to help his side post a total of 342-6 at the end of 50 overs.
Speaking to the media, Deep Dasgupta heaped praise on Babar Azam for his eye-pleasing knock against Nepal and lauded the Pakistan captain for his calm and composed batting in the middle overs before pressing the accelerate in the death overs of the game and asserted that the conditions were not tough on Multan to bat on Wednesday.
“Listen, he is poetry in motion. He is so easy on the eyes. Even though on the scorecard, it was Nepal as the opposition, you have to keep in mind how well they bowled. They were in the game until the 40th over. He really had to work hard, the conditions were not easy, it was hot, it was humid,” Deep Dasgupta said.
Pakistan Babar Azam alongside Mohammad Rizwan played sensibly after the two quick wickets in the powerplay, taking their time in the middle before putting pressure on the Nepal bowlers. Babar Azam and Iftikhar Ahmed formed a brilliant partnership in the final few overs including 129 runs in the final overs to help the Men in Green post a massive total at the end of 50 overs.
The Bowling Was Very Disciplined, It Didn’t Come Easy To Him – Deep Dasgupta
Deep Dasgupta feels that Nepal bowled brilliantly against the Pakistan batters with a lot of discipline and said that no one can take anything away from Babar Azam for scoring a century against Nepal as it came under difficult circumstances.
“The bowling was very disciplined. It didn’t come easy to him. If you look back and look at the scorecard, you might say ‘Oh, it came against Nepal’. But it was a difficult hundred. That tells you how he was glued in, the hunger he has to go out there, and irrespective of oppositions and conditions, he wants to score,” Deep Dasgupta added.
Pakistan bowlers were brilliant with the ball right from the start of the innings, as Shaheen Afridi was exceptional with new ball picking up 2 crucial wickets in the 1st over, while the Pakistan all-rounder Shadab Khan rattled the Nepal batters in the middle to wrap off the things for their side 23.4 overs to help them register massive victory on the campaign opener in Multan.