“He came he played he conquered”- Shadab Khan & Iftikhar Ahmed recover Pakistan from Anrich Nortje to set huge target for the Proteas in a do-or-die clash
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Iftikhar Ahmed and Shadab Khan
It’s a do-and-die match for Pakistan. But they’re locking horns with South Africa, so they’ve to produce something extraordinary in every department to keep themselves alive in the race to the semi-final. But they did put on a defendable total of 185/9 following two half-centuries from Iftikhar Ahmed and Shadab Khan on Thursday [November 3] at the SCG in Sydney.
As it’s generally seen in this World Cup, the captain winning the toss chooses to bat, and Pakistan skipper Babar Azam did the same. However, he failed with the bat again; he played like Test cricket, scoring six runs off 15 balls until Lungi Ngidi sent him in the sixth over. His opening partner Mohammad Rizwan was dismissed before Babar, in the first over itself by Wayne Parnell.
Mohammad Haris’ attempt to smash quick runs came to an end when Anrich Nortje’s length ball hit Haris’ pads. He took the review, which confirmed his dismissal. However, his quick knock of 28 runs with 11 balls, including two fours and three sixes, kept the innings moving.
Following Shan Masood’s two off six balls, Iftikhar Ahmed and Mohammad Nawaz tried to steady the ship till the latter gave away his wicket to Tabraiz Shamsi in the 13th over. But Ahmed was able to stitch a partnership with Shadab Khan till the latter was shown a way back to the dugout by Anrich Nortje.
In the 19th over, Shadab tried to pull Nortje’s length ball, which traveled toward deep mid-wicket to Tristan Stubbs’ grabs. On the very next ball, Nortje sent Mohammad Wasim. Shadab exited after a quickfire of 22-ball 52 (with three fours and four sixes) at an impressive strike rate of 236.36.
Kagiso Rabada ended Iftikhar’s knock with a short ball which the latter attempted to whip across the line, but the outside edge gave a screamer to Rilee Rossouw. Iftikhar scored 51 runs off 35 balls (with three fours and two sixes). Now, Pakistan will be relieved for a while owing to the competitive target of 186 they set for the Proteas.
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Gouri Das
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