Lahore, Sept 7: Pakistan beats Bangladesh by seven wickets in the Super four match of the Asia cup 2023 at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium.Haris Rauf | Player of the Match: It was hot out there, but I’ve played a lot of cricket here. I play PSL for Lahore, the crowd always expects us to perform here. Before any game, we do plan as a bowling unit. We talk about bowling to different plans based on the game phase. Hard length was tough to play here, and the plan was to keep bowling stump to stump. Didn’t need to go to the yorker today. I keep working hard and I have high goals for myself, I want to be the Player of the Series in this Asia Cup, let’s see how the tournament proceeds.
Shakib Al Hasan: We lost at the start, they bowled really well and we played some ordinary shots. On a wicket like this, we shouldn’t have lost four wickets in 10 overs. We had a very good partnership, we should have got going for 7-8 overs. After I got out, there were no more partnerships. Very poor batting display on a surface like this. We have to take it on our chin and move to the next one as we have another game in a couple of days. They (Pakistan) are the number one team, they’ve got three world-class frontline bowlers. If they can do that, it gets easier for their batsmen. We have been doing well in our bowling department. Batting at this moment is little bit hot and cold. We need to be consistent and that’s what we’ll try to do. Our three seamers bowled brilliantly. They have been bowling well for the last couple of years. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the wickets. It wasn’t a pitch where you can get wickets unless batsmen make a mistake. When I played the LPL, the pitches were slow. If that happens, it suit us better. Hopefully we do well in Colombo.
Imam ul Haq: Not the most fluent innings. The ball was seaming around, but I’m happy because I’ve been working on my backfoot game. We discussed about NRR, we thought we could chase within 36 overs and luckily me and Rizwan had a good partnership, and we could close the game like this. (On the pacers) They are remarkable, I want them to bowl another 2 months like this. God bless them.