On Tuesday, October 10, in Hyderabad, Pakistan and Sri Lanka played the finest match of the ongoing ODI World Cup 2023. On September 27, Babar Azam and Company landed at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. Since then, the ‘Men in Green’ have competed in two exhibition matches at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium as warm-ups against Australia and New Zealand before facing the Netherlands and Sri Lanka in World Cup 2023.
Pakistan’s tenure in Hyderabad ended as they successfully chased down 345 against Sri Lanka with six wickets remaining. The former world champions at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium stood for photos with the ground crew before leaving the pitch. Pakistan’s two victories over the Netherlands and Sri Lanka allowed them to accrue four vital points, as the batting pitches at the location are fairly favorable.
The Asian heavyweights will now head to Ahmedabad to take on India, their bitter rivals, on Saturday, October 14, in the world’s biggest cricket arena, Narendra Modi arena.
In the ODI World Cup 2023 match, Dasun Shanaka won the toss and chose to bat first. Kusal Mendis and Sadeera Samarawickrama then hit brilliant centuries to lead Sri Lanka to an outstanding total of 344/9. Taking four wickets for 71 runs in his ten overs, Hasan Ali was Pakistan’s best bowler. Pakistan’s chase was off to a bad start as they lost Imam-Ul-Haq and Babar Azam, two of their most reliable batsmen, in the first eight overs of the match.
But Abdullah Shafique, who came in for the slumping Fakhar Zaman, struck a spectacular 176 runs off 156 balls to put his team in a strong position. After an incredible century, Shafique was removed from the game, but Rizwan finished with an undefeated 131 off 121 balls to help Pakistan win. With ten balls remaining, Pakistan won the match thanks in large part to Iftikhar Ahmed’s vital 10-ball 22* contribution. It ended up being the most successful run-chase in ODI World Cup history as a result.
