Pakistan’s middle-order batting woes continued, as the Men in Green suffered an embarrassing defeat of 9 wickets against New Zealand in the fourth match, their first loss, of the ongoing T20I tri-series on Tuesday (October 11) in Christchurch.
Opting to bat first after winning the toss, Pakistan’s middle order was yet again badly exposed as nobody could reach the 30-run mark after their openers Babar Azam (21) and Mohammad Rizwan (16) failed to get going with the bat, resulting in them posting only 130 runs against New Zealand.
The hosts easily chased down the target inside 17 overs at the expense of only one wicket, thanks to Finn Allen’s fifty (62) and Devon Conway’s unbeaten 49 against Pakistan on Tuesday.
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After the match, former Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal criticized Pakistan’s middle order while slamming Iftikhar Ahmed, who took 27 balls to score as many runs, for his slow knock against the Black Caps. He said that Iftikhar started his innings like MS Dhoni but didn't end it the same way.
Saeed Ajmal said on his official YouTube channel: “Iftikhar MS Dhoni ki tarah khel raha hai par end me vo nahi kar paata jo MS karta tha ki pehle single le le, aur end pe aake chhakke maarke compensate kar liya. Iftikhar sahab start me 10 ball khaa jaate hain, Shan Masood 5-7 ball pehle aake khaa jaate hain.
Saare batters aise hi ball khaate hain, fir recover karne ke liye hit maarte hain aur out hoke bahar chala jaata hai. (Iftikhar plays like MS Dhoni but couldn't end the innings like MS used to. (MS) used to take singles and hit sixes towards the end to compensate for them. Here, Iftikhar plays 10 dot balls, Shan Masood plays 5-7 dot balls, and when they try to recover by hitting big shots, they get out).”
He added, “27 ball pe 27 run banaaye hain aur last over me out ho jaate hain. Aap kidhar stand karte hain? (Iftikhar scored 27 runs off as many balls and he got out in the last over. Where do you stand?).”
