Shadab Khan confident of Fakhar Zaman: The Pakistani vice-captain has backed their top-order batter after an off day.
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Pakistan batter Fakhar Zaman underwent an off day at work during Asia Cup 2022 Super 4 match against India in Dubai last night. Zaman, 32, committed errors across innings and divisions to not contribute much in a 5-wicket victory.
Zaman first came under the limelight for his involvement in a miscommunication for a high catch in the Indian powerplay. With India captain Rohit Sharma skying a Naseem Shah delivery, Zaman and Khushdil Shah both attempted the catch.
While Zaman dropped the same, he was fortunate enough that Pakistan didn’t suffer because of his drop as Shah was in his vicinity to make amends resulting in Pakistan putting an end to a brisk 51-run opening partnership between KL Rahul and Sharma.
India, who had only scored a lone run with the bat on the first four balls of the 20th over, managed to cover up as spinner Ravi Bishnoi hit consecutive boundaries off Haris Rauf. Having said that, both the boundaries wouldn’t have been possible had it not been for Zaman’s poor fielding at sweeper cover.
Failing to counter the spin, Zaman completely missed the ball as even a desperate effort on the rebound couldn’t save a boundary. With Bishnoi hitting a similar shot albeit in the air on the following delivery, Zaman both dropped a straightforward catch only to see the ball touching the boundary ropes yet again.
Shadab Khan confident of Fakhar Zaman winning matches in future amid severe criticism
Pakistan white-ball vice-captain Shadab Khan took to social media platform Twitter to lend support to Zaman stating that the Pakistani team always tries its best but good and bad days are part of the sport.
Admitting that it was a bad day for Zaman yesterday, Khan expected him to be a match-winner in the future saying that they win together and lose together. For the unversed, Zaman’s day had gone from bad to worse after he scored 15 (18) at a strike rate of 83.33 in a 182-run chase.
Cricket mai achay buray din aatay hein. Kabhi aap ka din hota hai kabhi nahi. As a team ham sab apni puri koshish kerte hein. @FakharZamanLive ka kal din nahi tha, agay woh match winner ho ga. Yeh hi hai cricket. Ham jeetay gein as a team, haare ge as a team.
— Shadab Khan (@76Shadabkhan) September 5, 2022
Not that Zaman hasn’t been criticized for his performance at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday, he was eventually cut some slack primarily because of Pakistan finishing on the winning side.
Khan’s comments are part of many more similar encouraging statements made by present and former cricketers of both the nations. Considering the amount of deplorable online bullying India pacer Arshdeep Singh is going through for dropping Asif Ali in a crunch situation, high-profile names publicly backing these players is a sight to behold.
