“The players performed admirably. The captain comments, “Credit goes to Agha and Talat for the way we started and the early wicket losses.” Shaheen Shah Afridi, the captain of Pakistan, praised pacer Haris Rauf and all-rounders Salman Ali Agha and Hussain Talat for their game-winning performances that helped the team defeat Sri Lanka by six runs in the first ODI on Tuesday at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. Wanindu Hasaranga’s triple-wicket spell caused the Green Shirts, who were put to bat first, to fall to 95/4 in 23.2 overs following a shaky start.
But Agha and Talat’s 138-run partnership for the fifth wicket underpinned their innings, and the former and Mohammad Nawaz’s undefeated 66-run partnership eventually led them to a formidable total. With an undefeated century of 105 off 87 deliveries, including nine fours, Agha continued to lead the Green Shirts in scoring. Talat came in second with 62 off 63 balls, and Nawaz contributed 36 not out from 23 balls. Speaking at the post-match presentation, Shaheen disclosed that the hosts were initially competing to score about 250 runs, but he gave Agha and Talat credit for nearly reaching the 300-run threshold.
“The players performed admirably. “Credit goes to Agha and Talat for the way we started and the early wicket losses,” Shaheen remarked. “We had a really high dot-ball rate when we first started using the bat. We began out aiming for a score of 250–260, but 300 is a significant total,” he continued. Sri Lanka dominated the second innings till the end of 11 overs, but Pakistani pacer Rauf forced a comeback, stopping their progress with three wickets in his two overs.
In the end, Haris produced economical bowling stats of 4/49 in his 10 overs, and fast-bowling all-rounder Faheem Shah and fellow bowler Naseem Shah provided crucial support by each taking two wickets, enabling Pakistan to successfully defend the score and defeat Sri Lanka by six runs. However, Haris Rauf deserves more recognition because of how fantastic his beginning was. For Pakistan, Haris consistently takes wickets. In white-ball cricket, he was our best player. “Our primary bowler is Haris,” Shaheen went on. Notably, Babar Azam helped Haris take his fourth wicket by dismissing Sadeera Samarawickrama with a spectacular one-handed catch at wide slip. Shaheen concluded his post-match interview with a smile, saying of the one-handed blinder, “Babar’s catch was like Superman.”
