The fight for excellence in Asia is going on. The first two matches of the Asia Cup have already been held. In the first match, Pakistan won by defeating Nepal by huge runs. Sri Lanka defeated Bangladesh in the second match. Pakistan's victory in the first match was predictable but the context of the second match was different. No team was ahead in the match between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. But in the end, Sri Lanka led by Dasun Sanaka won by 5 wickets with an excellent performance on the field.
The first match of this year's Asia Cup was held in Pakistan. The entire tournament was supposed to be held on Pakistani soil, but due to political troubles, it didn't take place. One of the best teams in Asia, India refused to go to Pakistan, which is why Sri Lanka was decided as the second venue. However, as the host country, the opening of the tournament is on the soil of Pakistan. Pakistan and Nepal faced each other in the opening match.
The match was held at the Multan International Stadium in Multan, Pakistan. At the start of that match, the host Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat. The team did not get off to a good start with their batting, but captain Babar Azam and Rizwan made a great pair after the dismissal of the two openers. The duo averaged 90-plus runs. After the departure of Rizwan and Agha Salman, Pakistan scored a huge collection of 342 runs with the brilliant batting of captain Babar Azam and Iftikhar Ahmed. Captain Babar Azam completed personal 150+ runs & Iftekhar completed personal 100 runs.
In response to the 300-plus runs given by Pakistan, Nepal could not bat well. The team was all out for only 104 runs after losing one wicket after another. Sompal Kami played an innings with the highest score of 28 runs for Nepal. Sadab Khan took the maximum four wickets for Pakistan. With a huge victory of 238 runs, with one match in hand, the Super Four is almost certain for Pakistan.
On the other hand, Sri Lanka got a relatively easy victory in the second match of the Asia Cup. They beat Bangladesh by 5 wickets. There was a lot of discussion and criticism surrounding the match between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. As both the teams were at the same level, the margin of victory was not heavy for either team. However, in the end, Shakib Al Hasan led Bangladesh couldn't perform well in the field. With the extraordinary performance of the Sri Lankan bowlers, Bangladesh's innings stopped at just 166 runs at the beginning of the day.
Young pacer Pathirana has done an amazing performance with the bowling for Sri Lanka This bowler took a maximum of four wickets for the team. Nazmul Hasan Shanto performed alone in batting for Bangladesh. This batsman played an impeccable innings of 80+ runs. Besides, no one else has been able to perform well with the bat.
Sri Lanka didn't get off to a good start in response to the few runs Bangladesh gave. The team lost three valuable wickets for just 30 runs. However, after the fall of three wickets, the Bangladeshi bowlers could not pick up any more wickets till the century. Two more wickets were picked up in the end but it was not enough to win. As a result, the Lankans left the field with a relatively easy victory. As a result, the road to the Super Four has become very complicated for Bangladesh. Bangladesh's fate will depend on the win in the last match as well as the results of the Afghanistan and Sri Lanka matches.
