OPINION
Follow UsIt was a similar story for Nepal in the World Cup Qualifiers earlier this year. They had West Indies on the mat, having dismissed their top three for not too much in the first 15 overs. Shai Hope (132) and Nicholas Pooran (115) then showed their class, scoring big centuries. Eventually, Nepal were left chasing a massive 340 in the end.
They were in the match in phases against other top teams like Zimbabwe and later on against Ireland as well. However, with ODI cricket being an elongated version of T20s, they could not remain on top for longer periods and in the end, they were left playing catch-up for most parts.
It was a similar scene in the Asia Cup opener against Pakistan as well. At 25 for 2 and 124 for 4, they had Pakistan in a precarious position. Had Karan KC held on to a straightforward return catch, we could have seen Babar Azam back to the hut for just 55. Not to mention, Nepal were poor with their ground fielding too. One could presume that their lack of experience at this level was their undoing, but having been in similar situations at least thrice in the last few months, Nepal could have certainly made a better match of it.
The contest gave Nepal a valuable lesson – one that will hopefully make them comeback stronger against India in a few days’ time.
Pakistan though are not complaining. Babar went on to make Nepal pay with 151, but it was a huge moment for his partner Iftikhar Ahmed, who smashed his maiden international century. His approach was a calculated one. He kept the boundaries coming with minimum risk and once he got a hold of Nepal’s bowling, showed no remorse, clobbering the bowlers to the fence with utmost ease.
Poor bowling by Nepal too played its part. More than 40% of the deliveries were bowled outside the off stump and Iftikhar smashed them at a strike-rate in excess of 193.
Finishing off games for Pakistan is not something Iftikhar is not accustomed to – be it in ODIs or T20Is. He walked in at 15 for 2 in a crucial tie against India in the T20 World Cup 2022 and smashed 51 off 34. That may have been enough on any other day, but Virat Kohli was in the zone that day and took India over the line. If that was not enough, he stepped up once again against South Africa in Sydney, this time scoring 51 off 35 as Pakistan got the two points.
Coming back to the ODIs, since 2022, Ifti Chacha, as he is fondly known, has made an impact every time he has come to bat. In ODIs since 2020, Iftikhar is just one of seven players in the world to have an average of over 50 and strike-rate of 100.
After playing a couple of ODIs in 2015, Iftikhar was overlooked for four years and was brought back after the 2019 World Cup. In this period, Pakistan had tried a couple of options – Imad Wasim and Sarfaraz Ahmed – on a consistent basis, who did a reasonably good job, but a shake-up gave Iftikhar a chance to make his opportunities count.
Against Nepal, he had plenty of time. This was an opportunity for him to show that he is not just a batter who can play little cameos, but also someone who could be relied on to bat for longer periods.
The right-hander has proved he can do that on two occasions in the last three months. Against New Zealand in May, the batter came in when his side was reduced to 66 for 4 in the 19th over, chasing 299. He scored an unbeaten 94 off 72, but Pakistan fell well short in the end.
And now against Nepal, he faced one ball less but made a match-altering unbeaten 109. Before these two knocks, he had not faced more than 41 deliveries in an ODI innings. He would often come into bat when there are perhaps 13-15 overs left, allowing him very little time to get his eye in and go berserk in the end. Having more overs to bat could at times not work in your way when you are an attacking batter like Iftikhar, but he showed composure and did not play any silly shots. And having to bat for an extended period worked in his favour as he was able to make more of an impact.
"Iftikhar also played a great innings when he came on. When he came in, I told him to play his natural game and he was comfortable after 2-3 boundaries," Babar said after his side's convincing 238-run victory against Nepal.
Pakistan have the likes of Shadab Khan and Salman Agha from the current squad who play similar roles, but if Iftikhar continues mixing caution with aggression as he did on Wednesday (August 30), there’s little doubt that he could very well be one of Pakistan’s crucial batters in that lower middle-order. It bodes well for Pakistan with the World Cup not too far away.
