Pakistani captain Babar Azam won the coin toss and decided to bat first against Nepal in the first match of the 2023 Asia Cup played at the Multan Cricket Stadium on Wednesday. (AP Photo), Singers Trishala Gurung (in picture) and Aima Baig performed in what was a short opening ceremony that was held right before the start of the game. (AP Photo), Pakistan were surprisingly were off to a scratchy start with Nepal showing their wares through tight bowling and decent fielding as the hosts lost both their openers well inside the first seven overs. (AFP Photo), Pakistan's captain Babar Azam (left) and Mohammad Rizwan rebuild the innings with an 86-run stand for the third wicket which was broken when the latter was run out on 44. (AFP Photo), Pakistan lost Agha Salman cheaply too but the arrival of Iftikhar Ahmed (right) turned things around dramatically for Pakistan. Together with Baba, Iftikhar added 214 runs for the fifth wicket. (AFP Photo), Babar Azam got capitalised on a dropped catch to bring up his 19th ODI century and converted it into a big innings, hitting 151 off 131 with the help of 14 fours and four sixes. (AFP Photo), Iftikhar Ahmed was in red-hot touch as he scored at a superb strike-rate, bringing up a maiden ODI century in quick time. He remained unbeaten on 109 off 71 as Pakistan posted a massive 342/6 in 50 overs. (AFP Photo), Nepal started their chase in style with back-to-back fours off the first two deliveries before Shaheen Afridi struck twice in as many deliveries. (AFP Photo), Sompal Kami and Aarif Sheikh (in pictures) provided some stability to the innings with a 59-run partnership for the fourth wicket. (Pic Credit: Asian Cricket Council), Haris Rauf broke the partnership landing two quick blows to send both packing to leave Nepal in deep trouble at 82/5. (Pic Credit: Asian Cricket Council), And then spinner Shadab Khan took over as he ran through the Nepal batting order to finish with four wickets from 6.4 overs. (Pic Credit: Asian Cricket Council), Nepal were eventually bowled out for 104 in 23.4 overs as Pakistan recorded a big 238-run win. (Pic Credit: Asian Cricket Council)