Pathum Nissanka’s brilliant unbeaten 55-run knock guided Sri Lanka to an easy five-wicket victory over Pakistan aat the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Friday. For Pakistan, Mohammad Hasnain and Haris Rauf bagged two wickets each.
The two teams will face off once again in the final of the tournament on Sunday.
“Our batting has done well against India and Afghanistan when we chased. You might think that it was a small total and Naseem Shah won it for us but all eleven players batted. We are confident of doing well in the final,” said Saqlain Mushtaq at the post-match press conference.
“Shocks do happen in cricket when wickets fall. Sri Lanka played better cricket and won,” he added.
Talking about Babar Azam, who took his time to score 30 runs in 29 balls, Mushtaq said that the Pakistan skipper is in good form, but it is his “luck” that is not in his favour.
“Babar is in good form…The kind of boundaries he has hit against India. A batter with deeper eyes will say that his form is fine. It is his luck which is not going your way,” said Mushtaq.
Not the result we wanted today 💔We meet Sri Lanka again in the final on Sunday 🏏#AsiaCup2022 | #SLvPAK https://t.co/Ajj6HwFJWR
— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) 1662746181000
Talking about their clash against Sri Lanka in the final, the Pakistan head coach said, “Defeat hurts, but it happens and we would like to learn from our mistakes. Sri Lanka will take confidence from this match into the final and we will take learning and passion going into the final.”
Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan overtook his opening partner and captain Babar Azam to seize the top position among batters in the ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings after the weekly update. In the match against Sri Lanka, Rizwan was only able to score 14 runs.
“Rizwan is superhuman and he is very spiritual. The energy he brings to the team is amazing,” said Mushtaq.