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Fakhar Zaman sustained an harm throughout the match towards New Zealand© AFP
Former Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez has strongly criticised the group administration for risking Fakhar Zaman within the ICC Champions Trophy opener towards New Zealand, a transfer that now value the star opener all the match. Fakhar sustained a knee harm throughout the first over into Pakistan’s opener towards New Zealand whereas chasing the ball within the outfield, forcing him to depart the sphere. Although he returned throughout Pakistan’s chase, The ICC rules prevented him from opening the batting for Pakistan. As an alternative, he was despatched in at No. 4, a choice Hafeez believes was a serious miscalculation.
“You give the Champions Trophy to the guy who sent Fakhar to bat at No. 4. He couldn’t run properly. It was a long match, and he was in pain. You can’t expect him to just stand there and hit every ball out of the park. He was struggling with running between the wickets, which added more pressure on Babar Azam,” Hafeez said on PTV Sports.
Beyond Fakhar’s injury, Hafeez also raised concerns over Babar’s approach during Pakistan’s 60-run defeat. The Pakistan captain scored 64 off 90 balls but failed to accelerate when required.
“Babar is a top player. He has nearly 18,000 to 20,000 international runs, but what was his intent today?” Hafeez questioned. “He scored a fifty and seemed satisfied, but Pakistan lost the game. If his knock had taken the game forward, then it would have been valuable. Instead, his half-century cost Pakistan the match. Why didn’t we start batting with that intent in the powerplay?” he added.
Pakistan’s title defence at house had already been dealt when Saim Ayub was dominated out of the match after he twisted his ankle throughout the Take a look at sequence in South Africa.
–IANS
hs/
(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is printed from a syndicated feed.)
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