Asia Cup 2022 Pak Skipper Babar Azam Says Of Naseem Shah\'s Heroics Against Afghanistan

“I was in the dressing room.Then, in the back of my mind, I thought that it was Cricket, and I’ve seen Naseem bat this way so I had a bit of faith.

This made me think of Javed Miandad’s sixth wicket in Sharjah,” said Babar Azam.

Miandad had hit an unbeaten six against India’s Chetan Sharma in the final ball of the Astral-Asia Cup final to win the title for Pakistan in one of the most memorable and iconic moments in cricket.

“To be truthful, it was an tense atmosphere in the locker room.We didn’t have the same partnerships as in the in the past but the way Naseem completed the game you could feel the mahaul (vibe) following that,” said the Pakistan captain.He acknowledged the credit to his bowlers for being able to keep Afghanistan at 130/6 in the 20 overs they played.

“The way we began bowling we were successful.

How we managed to keep them to 130, we want to show appreciation to the bowlers.As I’ve said earlier, the absence of partnerships made the game a tight one,” he said.

In response, Pakistan reached 131/9 in 19.2 overs with Naseem Shah slamming both of the balls of the final over for sixes to secure victory.

Babar Azam also said his batters should have had greater chances when facing the skilled Afghanistan bowlers Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman.

“Rashid, Mujeeb and Nabi are three of the best, so you should take risks with them, but the main strategy was to go in the deep end,” he said during the post-match ceremony on Wednesday night following Pakistan made it to the Asia Cup 2022 final against Sri Lanka.

Both of them beat Afghanistan as well as India in the Super Four stage.