Watch: Azam Khan Gives A Shoulder Tackle To Babar Azam After Taking A Blinder Down The Leg

Pakistan’s star batter Babar Azam and young wicket-keeper batsman Azam Khan had a cheerful moment on the field mid-way through the 18th over of the 2nd T2oI against New Zealand in Hamilton’s Seddon Park. Both of them were celebrating the string of wickets that fell during Haris Rauf’s 18th over as 3 wickets fell in the space of 4 balls.

Wicket-keeper Azam Khan was directly involved in the wicket that fell in the 19th over. He was solely responsible for the run-out of all-rounder Mitchell Santner for a golden duck and it helped the visitors in stopping the flow of runs towards the death overs in a situation when the Blackcaps were getting closer to setting another 200+ target on the board.

However, it did not happen because of Pakistan’s terrific comeback in the last 3 overs. After Mark Chapman’s dismissal in the 17th over, Haris Rauf was on fire in the 19th over of the match. He removed the dangerous Glenn Phillips for 13 in the very first ball of his over before claiming Adam Milne in the following delivery to have a chance of completing a hat-trick but he failed to do so.

However, Rauf did complete a hat trick of wickets as he got the wicket of Ish Sodhi with a clean bowl. As a result, New Zealand were reduced from 182/5 to 183/7 in a matter of just 4 balls. Then came the moment of brilliance by Azam Khan who is playing in only his 7th T20 match of his career.

He led to the run-out of Mitchell Santner for a golden duck and furthered New Zealand’s chances of scoring 200. But it was in the 3rd ball of the 18th over that Azam Khan and Babar Azam were caught having a little bit of fun amid the hurry of Kiwi wickets towards the end of 1st innings.

Babar Azam And Azam Khan Before Pakistan’s 195-Run Chase

Tremors in Hamilton…. Great take boy! pic.twitter.com/ewqNwkxr0E

— Adeel Azhar (@adeel_azhar) January 14, 2024

Babar Azam and Azam Khan in the field.#PakistanCricketTeam #NZvPAK #PAKvNZ#CricketTwitter #CaptainMilIerpic.twitter.com/lXpKMpLN2v

— Sahib Singh (@singh28915) January 14, 2024

The duo as a gesture of celebration collided against one another’s shoulders before laughing. Meanwhile, Pakistan in their response to chasing down the total of 195, have lost both of their openers – Ayub and Rizwan for 1 and 7 respectively.

Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman are currently steading Pakistan’s ship and they will have to stick to the crease for as long as they can and till the point when the visitors reach very close to the target. Both of them are closing in on their respective half-centuries and are playing at fierce strike rates.

Zaman is batting at a strike rate of 200 while Babar Azam is up there with a 150+ strike rate. This type of aggressive batting should be the name of Pakistani batter’s game and they have to keep this template intact for the T20 World Cup in June as well.