‘Apne desh me hi aisa halat hai’ – Fans react to viral image of empty Multan stadium during Pakistan vs Nepal clash in Asia Cup 2023

The 16th edition of the Asia Cup finally began on 30 August 2023. This time, Pakistan are teh host but due to the hybrid model, four matches are going to be played in Pakistan and the other nine matches will be played in Sri Lanka. The Men in Green took on Nepal in the tournament opener at Multan Cricket Stadium.   

Pakistan recently became the new number-one-ranked team in ODIs after cleanly sweeping Afghanistan in the three-match ODI series. While it is the first time Nepal got the opportunity to play in this tournament. But, an image from the match left fans disappointed as the stadium looked empty. After a long gap of 15 years, Pakistan got the right to host this tournament on their home soil. But, still, seeing such a poor attendance, fans shared their reactions on social media.        

Here is the shared image:

Pakistan had a nervy start against Nepal

Meanwhile, it is the only match of this tournament that is going to take place in this stadium. Speaking of the match, Babar Azam won the toss and opted to bat first. He said: “We will bat first, pitch looks very dry and shiny. No reason to name the XI earlier, we wanted to give confidence to our team. To be honest, being the top ranked team brings a good kind of pressure, we’ll try to enjoy and do our best.”

Nepal skipper, Rohit Paudel said: “Everyone is very happy, it is our first game in the Asia Cup. Everyone in Nepal is really excited for this game. Most of the things here are very similar to Nepal, looks like a beautiful wicket to bat on.” However, Nepal had a good start to the game as they picked up two wickets for just 25 runs in 6.1 overs. Fakhar Zaman scored 14 runs and Imam-ul-Haq scored just five runs off 14 balls. After 33 overs, they were 157 runs for four wickets as Babar and Iftikhar Ahmed were on the crease.

Here is how fans have reacted:   

https://twitter.com/TasneemKhatai1/status/1696816026602897775