2023 PAK vs NEP highlights: Babar Azam-led Pakistan is scheduled to play the first match of the Asia Cup 2023 against Rohit Paudel-led Nepal.
| Match No | Asia Cup 2023, 1st match |
| Match | Pakistan vs Nepal |
| Date | August 30, 2023 |
| Toss | Pakistan won the toss and opt to bat |
| venue | Multan Cricket Stadium |
| Result | Pakistan won by 238 runs |
2023 Pak vs NEP playing 11
Pakistan Squad
Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Agha Salman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf
Nepal Squad
Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh (wk), Rohit Paudel (c), Aarif Sheikh, Kushal Malla, Dipendra Singh Airee, Gulsan Jha, Sompal Kami, Karan KC, Sandeep Lamichhane, Lalit Rajbanshi
2023 PAK vs NEP Scoreboard
| Team | Scoreboard |
| Pakistan | 342/6 (50 overs) |
| Nepal | 104/10 (23.4 overs) |
2023 PAK vs NEP highlights
Pakistan Innings
Having won the toss, Pakistan chose to bat where Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq opened their innings where Sompal Kami opened for attack. With the openers sent out with 14 and 5 respectively, the captain Babar Azam had an impressive strike of 151 runs on 131 deliveries who brought Pakistan back to the competition. Rizwan had joined Azam and had an individual score of 44 runs and was dismissed by run out.
Iftikhar Ahmed was impressive as he scored 109 runs on 71 deliveries. His partnership with Babar Azam scored 214 runs. These two had an excellent partnership that made Pakistan set up a huge target for Nepal. By the end of 50 overs, Pakistan had scored 342 runs losing 6 wickets.
| BATTING | R | B | M | 4s | 6s | SR | |
| Fakhar Zaman | c †Aasif Sheikh b Karan KC | 14 | 20 | 26 | 3 | 0 | 70 |
| Imam-ul-Haq | run out (Paudel) | 5 | 14 | 32 | 1 | 0 | 35.71 |
| Babar Azam (c) | c sub (S Jora) b Sompal Kami | 151 | 131 | 187 | 14 | 4 | 115.26 |
| Mohammad Rizwan † | run out (Airee) | 44 | 50 | 66 | 6 | 0 | 88 |
| Agha Salman | c Bhurtel b Lamichhane | 5 | 14 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 35.71 |
| Iftikhar Ahmed | not out | 109 | 71 | 102 | 11 | 4 | 153.52 |
| Shadab Khan | b Sompal Kami | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 200 |
Bowling
| BOWLING | O | M | R | W | ECON | 0s | 4s | 6s | WD | NB |
| Sompal Kami | 10 | 1 | 85 | 2 | 8.5 | 26 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Karan KC | 9 | 0 | 54 | 1 | 6 | 30 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Gulsan Jha | 4 | 0 | 35 | 0 | 8.75 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| Lalit Rajbanshi | 10 | 0 | 48 | 0 | 4.8 | 33 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Sandeep Lamichhane | 10 | 0 | 69 | 1 | 6.9 | 22 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Dipendra Singh Airee | 6 | 0 | 40 | 0 | 6.66 | 14 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Kushal Bhurtel | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Nepal Innings
Unable to fold Pakistan with low total, Kushal Bhurtel and Aasif Sheikh opened for Nepal and was sent out with 8 and 5 runs respectively. With captain Rohit Paudel dismissed with duck by Shaheen Afridi, Nepal was down to 3 wickets scoring only 14 runs on the 2nd over.
Aarif Sheikh and Sompal Kami had scored 26 and 28 runs respectively and was sent out by Haris Rauf. Nepal batters was not able to withstand the bowling attacks of Pakistan. Shadab Khan was impressive through his bowling as he scalped 4 wickets giving 27 runs in 7 overs. Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf scalped two wicket each. On the end, Nepal had lost all 10 wickets scoring only 104 runs on 23.4 overs.
| BATTING | R | B | M | 4s | 6s | SR | |
| Kushal Bhurtel | c †Mohammad Rizwan b Shaheen Shah Afridi | 8 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 200 |
| Aasif Sheikh † | c Iftikhar Ahmed b Naseem Shah | 5 | 5 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 100 |
| Rohit Paudel (c) | lbw b Shaheen Shah Afridi | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Aarif Sheikh | b Haris Rauf | 26 | 38 | 66 | 5 | 0 | 68.42 |
| Sompal Kami | c †Mohammad Rizwan b Haris Rauf | 28 | 46 | 72 | 4 | 0 | 60.86 |
| Gulsan Jha | c Fakhar Zaman b Shadab Khan | 13 | 23 | 32 | 0 | 1 | 56.52 |
| Dipendra Singh Airee | b Mohammad Nawaz | 3 | 11 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 27.27 |
| Kushal Malla | c Iftikhar Ahmed b Shadab Khan | 6 | 4 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 150 |
| Sandeep Lamichhane | b Shadab Khan | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Karan KC | not out | 7 | 6 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 116.66 |
| Lalit Rajbanshi | lbw b Shadab Khan | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Bowling
| BOWLING | O | M | R | W | ECON | 0s | 4s | 6s | WD | NB |
| Shaheen Shah Afridi | 5 | 0 | 27 | 2 | 5.4 | 20 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Naseem Shah | 5 | 0 | 17 | 1 | 3.4 | 24 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Haris Rauf | 5 | 1 | 16 | 2 | 3.2 | 22 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Shadab Khan | 6 | 0 | 27 | 4 | 4.05 | 26 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Mohammad Nawaz | 2 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 6.5 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
2023 PAK vs NEP highlights
Watch 2023 PAK vs NEP highlights click >> HERE
Player of the match
Babar Azam | Pakistan
When I went in, the ball wasn’t coming on properly, so I was trying to build an innings with Rizwan. Then we had a different phase, sometimes Rizwan gave me confidence, sometimes I gave him belief. Iftikhar also played a great innings when he came on.
When he came in, I told him to play his natural game and he was comfortable after 2-3 boundaries. A couple of overs we weren’t up to the mark, but the way our pacers started and then the spinners were brilliant. This win will give us the confidence, India Pakistan will always bring high intensity, we will try our best.
Check: Asia Cup points table 2023
