Imam-ul-Haq hit-wicket: Pakistan opening batsman gets unfortunately out hit-wicket during Pakistan vs Bangladesh match at The Lord’s
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During the 43rd match of the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup between Pakistan and Bangladesh at The Lord’s Cricket Ground, Pakistan opening batsman Imam-ul-Haq got out in one of the most unfortunate manners in which one can get out on the 22-yard deck- Hit-Wicket.
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It all happened on the penultimate delivery of the 42nd over. Imam had just hit his maiden hundred at the ‘Home of Cricket’ off 99 deliveries. He had just received a lovely round of applause from the jam-packed crowd and the very next ball gets dismissed in the most embarrassing fashion as it can be. ‘Ecstacy followed by agony’ is what the commentator Mark Nicholas said on air to sum perfectly sum up the dismissal.
Mustafizur gets his man
It was Bangladesh’s best bet with the ball in the tournament so far- Mustafizur Rahman, who provided the all-important breakthrough.
He bowled his famous off-cutter at a decent pace to which the Southpaw wished to guide it through the square-leg region. But, in the process he dragged his feet way too inside the crease to ultimately drag his left foot onto the base of the stumps. With this he got dismissed for a well made 100 ball 100 with the strike rate of 100.
Team Pakistan, on the other hand, are almost out of the tournament, as they needed to win by a margin of at least 316 to overtake New Zealand, who are currently placed at the 4th spot in the points table. They in fact did not approach their innings with the intention of going hammer and tongs to score anywhere near to at least 350 to give their bowlers a try, however minuscule.
They in fact reached the 100-run mark in the 22nd over, clearing the fog that they would only go for a win. At the time of writing, Pakistan were 275/5 after 45.2 overs. Babar Azam (96 off 98) and Imam (100 off 100) made stand-out contributions with the bat.
Twitter furious with Imam’s knock
It is a rare thing to happen in a game of Cricket for a batsmen to hit a century and still be destructively criticized by his fans left and right. Imam has in fact, been ridiculed on Twitter for his run-a-ball knock, with people terming it a selfish knock played only to seal his spot in the semi-finals.
WATCH: Imam-ul-Haq hit-wicket
