Asia Cup: Pakistan's Iftikhar Ahmed joins ELITE list with maiden ODI ton in tournament opener against Nepal
Iftikhar Ahmed during the match (Source: @TheRealPCB)
Pakistan's middle-order was the highlight intheir recent3-0 win against Afghanistan and the same was on display in Asia Cup 2023 opener against Nepal on Wednesday, August 30. Batting first after winning the toss, Pakistan lost two wickets in quick succession twice during the innings before skipper Babar Azam and Iftikhar Ahmed joined forces.
While Babar scored 151, his 19th ODI ton, Ahmed went on to record his first ODI century and finished 109 not out off just 71 balls. The duo added 214 runs for the fifth wicket as Pakistan scored 342/6 in 50 overs. While Babar became the fastest to score 19 ODI tons, Ahmed too joined an elite list in context of Pakistan history.
Aged 32 years and 361 days, Ahmed became the second oldest player to score his first ODI century for Pakistan. The only player ahead of him is Zaheer Abbas who was 34 years 146 days old when he scored his maiden ton in ODIs in 1981 against Australia.
Ahmed's innings was divided in two parts - his first fifty runs came off 43 balls while the second 50 came in 24 balls. With a ton off 67 balls, Ahmed also joined the list of fastest centuries for Pakistan in ODIs. He currently is joint-fifth on the list with former cricketer Shahid Afridi on top three places having scored a ton off 37, 45 and 53 balls. The next two places go to Sharjeel Khan and Basit Ali who had scored an ODI hundred off 61 and 67 balls, respectively.
Chasing a huge total of 343 in 50 overs, Nepal was never in contention against the pace trio of Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf and got bundled out for a paltry 104 runs in 23.4 overs. Spinners also played their part after first five Nepalese wickets were shared by pacers.
Mohammad Nawaz sent back Dipendra Singh Airee in the 21st over before Shadab Khan wreaked havoc. The leg-spinner accounted for rest of the four wickets including final two in space of three balls to finish 4/27 in 6.4 overs as Pak won by 238 runs.
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