PAK vs BAN: Babar Azam Hails Fakhar Zaman After Victory Over Bangladesh

Pakistan National Cricket Team captain Babar Azam was delighted with Fakhar Zaman’s innings after the victory of his side over the Shakib Al Hasan-led Bangladesh National Cricket Team in the 31st match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Tuesday, October 31.

Pakistan displayed an all-round brilliance against the Bangla Tigers and won the match comfortably by 7 wickets with 105 balls remaining. After being invited to bowl first, they bundled out the opposition for 204, thanks to Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Wasim Jr’s bowling brilliance.

When it came to run-chase, Fakhar Zaman and Abdullah Shafique provided the side with an amazing start and then Iftikhar Ahmed and Mohammad Rizwan finished off the game.

Speaking during the post-match presentation ceremony, Babar Azam lauded Fakhar Zaman for his heroics. He said:

“All credit to the boys the way we played in all three departments. We know, if Fakhar bats for 20-30 overs, it’s a different ball game, he played his natural game. Good to see him.”

Babar Azam added that they are aiming to finish on a high by winning the next two matches of the ICC World Cup 2023. He said:

“We are trying to win the next two matches, we’ll see where we stand. We started well, the way Shaheen started. After 15-20 overs, they built a partnership, our main bowlers picked wickets. We picked wickets in the middle overs. Thank you (fans) so much for the support.”

Notably, Pakistan still have slim chances of making it to the semi-finals of ICC World Cup 2023, but a lot of things need to fall at the same place together for the Men In Green.

After the Asia Cup, I practiced a lot on my batting – Fakhar Zaman after Babar Azam & Co.’s win over Bangladesh

Fakhar Zaman was awarded Player of the Match for his stellar batting show and speaking after the match, he said that he put in hard yards after the Asia Cup and his hard work has finally paid off. He said:

“After the Asia Cup, I practiced a lot on my batting, I was looking good at the camp and was looking forward to making it to the team. Today, my hard work paid off after I was given a chance.”

Fakhar Zaman also spoke about his role in the team, saying that he always aims to make the job easy for his opening partner by playing an attacking brand of cricket. He was also hopeful of carrying on his form in the next few matches.

“I told Abdullah that I will see off the first few overs, I knew I could hit big sixes. My role is to make it easy for my partner, so it was important to see off the first few overs and then play my shots. NRR was in our mind after we reached 100, the aim was to finish it off in 30 overs. I had too many failures, I was looking towards such a knock and hopefully I’ll make bigger scores in the next few games.”

Fakhar Zaman smashed 81 runs off 74 balls, with 3 fours and 7 sixes in the match. He became only the second Pakistan batter to hit five or more sixes in a men’s ODI World Cup innings after Imran Nazir, who hit 8 against Zimbabwe in 2007.