The Pakistani Player Mohammad Rizwan was impressive in the match against Sri Lanka where he scored 131* runs and became the first Pakistan Cricketer to score an ODI century at No.4 in the last 4 years.
first Pakistan Cricketer to score an ODI century at No.4
Pakistan is scheduled to play in the 8th match of the ICC World Cup 2023, against Sri Lanka on October 10 at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. On this occasion, Pakistan’s Shafique and Rizwan had a partnership score of 176 helping the side on the path of victory.
Winning the toss Sri Lanka chose to bat, where Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Perera opened the innings while Shaheen Afridi opened the bowling attack. The Opener Kusal Perera was sent out with a duck by Hasan Ali, Pathum Nissanka scored 51 runs on 61 deliveries and was sent out by Shadab Khan.
Kusal Mendis and Samarawickrama were impressive in the innings while Kusal Mendis scored 122 runs and was sent out by Hasan Ali. Samarawickrama scored 108 runs on 77 deliveries. Other batters were sent out at regular intervals. Hasan Ali dismissed four wickets Haris Rauf dismissed two wickets Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Nawaz, and Shadab Khan dismissed one wicket each. By the end, Sri Lanka scored 344 runs losing all 9 wickets on 50 overs.
With the target of 345 runs, Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq opened the innings while Maheesh Theekshana opened the bowling attack. Imam-ul-Haq scored 12 runs and was sent out by Dilshan Madushanka.
With Babar Azam’s dismissal for 12 runs by Dilshan, Mohammad Rizwan and Shafique scored a partnership run of 176 runs. Abdullah Shafique scored 113 runs on 103 deliveries and was sent out by Matheesha Pathirana while Saud Shakeel scored 31 runs and was sent out by Theekshana. With Iftikhar Ahmed and Rizwan’s efforts Pakistan won the match with 6 wickets.
Their partnership score was the second-highest for Pakistan in World Cups. While speaking after the match Mohammad Rizwan said, “always a proud moment for me whenever you perform for your country. I am speechless at this moment. It was difficult.
The thing was that after the bowling innings we went back and everyone was confident. Unluckily, they got Babar Azam early but we got good partnerships after that. It’s a good track and was supportive to us. I told Shafique to take it step by step. Sometimes cramps and sometimes I was okay (chuckles),” he concluded.
Pakistan will be playing their next World Cup match against their rivals India on October 14 at Narendra Modi Stadium.
