Zaka Ashraf: “Play cricket with a brave heart, good spirit, and positivity”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Zaka Ashraf, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman, has urged captain Babar Azam to be completely fearless when batting and “play cricket with a brave heart.”
Azam is the team’s batting spearhead as he is often relied on to make runs in all three formats of the game.
Since he keeps coming to the rescue and playing match-winning knocks, it has earned him a reputation as one of the elite batsmen in the world.
“Play cricket with a brave heart, good spirit, and positivity,” Ashraf was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Azam recently featured in Pakistan’s two-Test series against Sri Lanka, where he amassed 76 runs at an average of 25.33.
He then led the team in the three-match ODI series against Afghanistan and proceeded to make 113 runs, which included two fifties, at an average of 37.66.
Most recently, he played in the Asia Cup and finished with 207 runs in five matches, which included a top score of 151, at an average of 51.75.
Pakistan kickstarted their campaign with a comprehensive 238-run win over Nepal before sharing one point apiece with India as their match was abandoned due to rain.
Having progressed to the Super Four stage, the men in green continued to shine as they took down Bangladesh by seven wickets.
However, everything crumbled down from this point as Pakistan lost to India by 228 runs before taking on Sri Lanka for a spot in the Asia Cup final. They were unable to get the job done as Sri Lanka defeated them by two wickets via the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method (DLS) method.
Pakistan Squad for 2023 Asia Cup: Babar Azam (capt), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Fakhar Zaman, Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Haris (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Shahnawaz Dahani, Zaman Khan.
Travelling reserve: Tayyab Tahir
[TS_Poll id=”87″]