Pakistan and New Zealand are locking horns in a warm-up fixture for the ODI World Cup 2023 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad. Pakistan captain Babar Azam won the toss and elected to bat first. However, the decision wasn’t vindicated by the openers Abdullah Shafique (14 off 25) and Imam-ul-Haq (1 off 10) who returned to the pavilion with just 46 runs on the board after 11.2 overs.
Captain Babar Azam walked to the crease in the third over and stabilized the innings through a massive stand with Mohammad Rizwan. During his innings, a hilarious incident took place which left everyone in splits. Babar went on to play a brilliant knock of 80 off 84 balls with the help of eight fours and two sixes in his innings. He stitched a 114-run partnership with Mohammad Rizwan off 110 balls to stabilize Pakistan’s innings after two early blows.
Some fun from Babar Azam on the field😂❤️.#PAKvNZ | #PAKvsNZ | #BabarAzam𓃵
— World Cup 🏏 (@World_Cup_23) September 29, 2023
The Pakistan captain gently played a delivery by one of the spinners but the ball began rolling back towards his stumps. The 28-year-old tried to stop the moving ball through his shoe but it continued to roll. The Pakistan star kept his eye on the ball and intently followed it until it reached the wicketkeeper, Tom Latham. The moment left everyone in stitches including Babar and Latham.
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Babar Azam went on to play a brilliant knock of 80 off 84 balls with the help of eight fours and two sixes in his innings. He stitched a 114-run partnership with Mohammad Rizwan off 110 balls to stabilize Pakistan’s innings after two early blows.
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Babar Azam’s innings was brought to an end courtesy of a spectacular catch by Daryl Mitchell. On the fourth ball of the 30th over bowled by Mitchell Santer, the right-handed batter miscued a slog sweep which went up in the air towards long on. Mitchell, who was running in from the boundary managed to reach the ball and completed a terrific catch diving to his right.
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Meanwhile, Pakistan went on to score 345/5 in their allotted 50 overs with Mohammad Rizwan top-scoring with his knock of 103 (94) while Saud Shakeel (75 off 53) also played a counter-attacking knock in the end.
