'It reminded me of Javed Miandad's six' - Babar Azam thrilled after witnessing Naseem Shah's heroics against Afghanistan

The ongoing Asia Cup witnessed yet another last over finish with Pakistan and Afghanistan involved in a thriller this time around. Naseem Shah wa the hero for Pakistan as he took his team home with the bat when they needed 11 runs in the final over with one wicket in hand. He smashed consecutive sixes off the best Afghanistan bowler, Fazalhaq Farooqui, and that followed some big celebrations in the Pakistan camp.

Not many Pakistan fans were left with hopes after Asif Ali got out in the penultimate over of the innings. With only one wicket in hand and Farooqui to deliver the last over, Afghanistan were the clear favourites to win the match. But Naseem Shah had different ideas and he ended up smashing two full tosses for maximums to leave Pakistan dressing room into a tizzy. 

Something similar had happened back in 1986 at the same venue when Javed Miandad had hit India's Chetan Sharma for a six when Pakistan needed 6 runs off the final ball. Pakistan skipper Babar Azam, even though he wasn't born, was reminded of that six on the night he witnessed Naseem Shah pull off a miraculous victory for his team.

At the same time, Babar also revealed that he had belief in Naseem's abilities with the bat. "At the back of the mind, I thought this is T20 cricket, and I have seen Naseem bat like this, so I had a little bit of belief. This reminded me of Javed Miandad's six in Sharjah," Babar Azam said at the post-match presentation.

I had the belief I could hit sixes, says Naseem Shah

Meanwhile, Naseem Shah was understandably pumped up after leading Pakistan to famous victory. He stated that he was always confident of hitting sixes having practiced the same in the nets.

"When I came in to bat, I had the belief I could hit sixes. I practice this. I knew they would bowl yorkers. I just tried and I executed. I had spoken earlier itself that we need to have belief, we can hit. We train in the nets, so that belief was there. I felt my bat was not good, so I changed it (laughs)," Naseem Shah said.