On Thursday, Pakistan took on Sri Lanka in a virtual semifinal in the Super Four stage of the Asia Cup. Both teams knew before the game that the winner would qualify for the final against India on Sunday.
Batting first, Pakistan scored a challenging 252/7 in their rain-shortened innings of 42 overs, riding on contributions from Abdullah Shafique (52), Mohammad Rizwan (86*) and Iftikhar Ahmed (47).
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After rain during the innings break, Sri Lanka's target had been reduced by one run, to 252, in 42 overs. Kusal Mendis and Sadeera Samarawickrama set the home side on course with a 100-run partnership for the third wicket.
A lower-order collapse saw the chasing side lose 5 wickets for 36 runs, but with 2 runs required off the last ball, Charith Asalanka kept his cool to tap the ball into the leg-side and complete the chase, remaining unbeaten on 49.
MORE: Asia Cup 2023 Final: India to play Sri Lanka
Pakistan fans react to Asia Cup exit
The exit from the Asia Cup comes as a big blow to Pakistan, who entered the tournament as the No. 1 ranked ODI team in the world, but will finish third at best in Asia. Their fans made their feelings known with viral memes and reactions, especially on Twitter.
same chachu same 😭💔#PAKvSL #PAKvsSL #SLvPak #SLvsPak pic.twitter.com/EunYbmLHrb
— Hamxa 🏏🇵🇰 (@hamxashahbax21) September 14, 2023
Brother's gonna think the whole team came to the airport to receive him 😭 https://t.co/zstnrKqUOA pic.twitter.com/bN6EDTeYWF
— Heisenberg ☢ (@internetumpire) September 14, 2023
If you can't control your full tosses better try your luck as baseball pitcher
— Kamran Muzaffer (@krick3r) September 14, 2023
Many fans and commentators felt that Babar Azam's captaincy on the night had not been up to the mark either, with his field placement and rotation of bowlers.
Babar should step down from Captaincy this is the only way forward he dont know anything about captaincy pic.twitter.com/9QuCLrV1Dn
— Huzaifa khan (@HuzaifaKhan021) September 14, 2023
"Poor Captaincy by Babar in last 3 overs" - Gautam Gambhir pic.twitter.com/x4Mn4LJpe4
— Utsav 💔 (@utsav__45) September 14, 2023
While Pakistan may have been the top ODI side at the start of the tournament, they were dethroned by Australia midway through, after the Men in Yellow took a 2-0 lead in their bilateral series against South Africa.
In fact, Pakistan's poor Asia Cup showing means that as per the lastest rankings update, they have slipped to third with arch-rivals India overtaking them.
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