Pakistan skipper Babar Azam hailed the duo of Abdullah Shafique and Mohammad Rizwan after their six-wicket victory against Sri Lanka at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on Tuesday. Pakistan was under the pump after Sri Lanka posted a par score of 344 runs on the board.

In fact, Pakistan had not chased more than 265 runs in the World Cup and thus their batters had their work cut out. Furthermore, they lost early wickets of Imam-ul-Haq and Babar Azam and found themselves at 37-2.

However, Mohammad Rizwan and Abdullah Shafique, making his World Cup debut, laid the foundation. The duo added 176 runs for the third wicket and consistently rotated the strike to keep the required run rate in reach.

Shafique scored a fine knock of 113 runs whereas Rizwan scored an unbeaten knock of 131 to help their team get over the line. In the end, Pakistan was able to chase down the highest target in World Cup history and won their second match of the ongoing ODI showpiece.

In fact, Pakistan bowlers also bounced back towards the end as they conceded only 50 runs in the last nine overs and kept Sri Lanka under 350.

Babar Azam said in the post-match presentation, “All credit to the boys, especially Abdullah and Rizwan, the way they built the partnership and put pressure on Sri Lanka. We weren’t up to the mark in the first 20-30 overs. All credit to Mendis, he played an outstanding knock. We finished well, all credit to the bowlers.”

He showered praise on Abdullah Shafique, “Very happy with the way he’s playing. This is his first World Cup. His hunger to play, I saw him in the nets so I decided to play him. The way Rizwan and Abdullah built the partnership, they helped us. We believed and built partnerships. Thank you so much (Hyderabad crowd) for supporting us throughout the one and a half weeks.”

Pakistan will play their next match against arch-rivals India at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Saturday.