Pakistani captain Babar Azam enters unwanted list after scoring a duck against Afghanistan
Pakistan won the first ODI against Afghanistan comfortably by 142 runs after bowling them out for 59 while chasing a target of 202 runs. The bowling was led by Haris Rauf who picked up a five-wicket haul after the new ball pair of Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah dismissed the Afghanistan top order early.
Afghanistan lost its first four wickets for just 18 runs and was in deep trouble. But the Haris Rauf show was yet to begin and boy did he bowl with some pace to pick five of Afghanistan’s last six wickets. He created havoc among the Afghan batters who were reluctant to come on the front foot and found themselves in awkward positions trying to get out of the line of the ball.
The Collapse
Talking about Pakistan’s batting innings, choosing to bat first after winning the toss Pakistan got off to a shaky start as they lost Fakhar Zaman in the first over of the innings after he was dismissed by fast bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi. He was followed by Pakistani captain Babar Azam who missed a straight ball from Mujeeb and was given out LBW by the umpire.
Babar challenged the decision by taking a review but remained out as the ball tracking showed umpires call on the wicket which was out. Mohammad Rizwan who to the surprise of many experts walked in to bat at number four played some good shots but was dismissed after scoring 21.
One man who was watching the collapse from the other end was Imam ul Haq. The opener was one of the shining lights in an otherwise dismal batting display as he scored 61 runs. Pakistan managed to cross the 200-run mark courtesy of lower order partnership between Shadab Khan and Naseem Shah
An Unwanted List
Pakistani captain Babar Azam entered an unwanted list of batters after scoring a duck in the first ODI against Afghanistan. He is now fourth on the list of Pakistani batters with the most number of ducks in ODI cricket with four ducks. The list is led by Wasim Akram with eight ducks. The second and third positions have been taken by Inzamam-ul-Haq and Moin Khan with four each and Misbah-ul-Haq with three.
