Pakistan cricket team had a forgettable start to their campaign in ICC CT 2025. The Men in Green were comprehensively beaten by Black Caps across all the 3 departments of the game. Pakistan lost the match by a mind boggling margin of 60 runs, since this is a very short tournament, this defeat can hurt the hosts very badly. NRR of Pakistan is -1.200 & will require a herculean effort to overcome the damage.
Babar Azam’s intent & mindset dents Pakistan
While chasing a mammoth 321 runs, the hosts were dealt with a huge blow as Fakhar Zaman wasn’t allowed to open the batting due to an injury during the start of New Zealand batting. According to ICC rules, Fakhar was out of the field for 30 minutes which meant that he can come after that period.
Saud Shakeel got an unexpected promotion up the order who looked awful. He was unable to rotate the strike & allowed Kiwi bowlers to settle in. The pressure of require run rate was creeping up and a big shot was on cards but Shakeel couldn’t time it properly and Matt Henry at deep third man took a stunning catch. Pakistan’s score was 8-1 in 3.4 overs.
Skipper Mohammad Rizwan promoted himself up the order to the No.3 position. It looked as if Rizwan & Babar were giving too much respect to the bowlers. The target was 321 not 270-280 runs where the required run rate can be allowed to go past 7 runs per over casually. Matt Henry & William O Rourke were targeting stumps of Babar and he wasn’t seen taking any risks by any means.
The things got worse for Men in Green as Rizwan was out on the last ball of 10th over as a flying Glenn Phillips at backward point took a breath-taking catch. Rizwan was dismissed on 3 runs by playing 14 balls. Pakistan scored 22 runs at the end of 10 overs for the loss of 2 wickets as the powerplay overs weren’t utilized by the hosts despite the surface being a batting track.
Struggles continue for Pakistan
Fakhar Zaman was literally on one leg as he wasn’t able to run singles quickly due to the injury. Skipper Mitchell Santner introduced spinners Phillips & Bracewell from both the ends. Fakhar Zaman was clueless against the ball turning away from him as he tried to hit slog sweep multiple times but couldn’t succeed at the most.
Fakhar Zaman played 30 dot balls out of 41 deliveries he faced as his knock of 24 runs doesn’t carry much significance. Pakistan’s score was 69-3 in 20.5 overs at the dismissal of Fakhar. Babar Azam’s slow-paced innings did helped Kiwis to assert their dominance. Babar Azam’s knock of 64 runs in 90 balls can be termed as selfish given it’s a do or die tournament for every team. It seemed as if Retro cricket was back given so much time was taken by Fakhar, Babar & Rizwan to get going. Pakistan consumed 162 dot deliveries which is 27 overs out of 50 not at all a sign of defending champions of ICC CT 2027.
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