New Delhi. The excitement for World Cup 2023 is at its peak now. India and South Africa have secured their places in the semi-finals. 2 other teams are yet to be decided. Teams from Pakistan to New Zealand are in the race. In the tournament match on Saturday, Pakistan used the Duckworth-Lewis rule to win against the Kiwi team. This win is also important because the Kiwi team posted a massive score of 401 runs in the first innings. Fakhar Zaman played a quick innings of 126 not out in this match. However, he was under target after his poor performance in Asia Cup 2023. In the first match of the World Cup, he failed against the Netherlands and was dropped from the team. But now he made a comeback and played a brilliant innings. Fakhar has scored 219 runs at an average of 110 in 3 matches so far in World Cup 2023. Apart from this, he also hit 18 sixes. He hit 11 sixes in his century innings against New Zealand.
Speaking to the media after the win against New Zealand, Fakhar Zaman said, “After the Asia Cup, I went home and stayed there for only 2 days. After this I went to Peshawar. Fielding coach Aftab Khan worked with me a lot there. I dedicate this win to him. I used to correct the shortcomings in his academy. I was struggling against off-spinners. In such a situation, the junior cricketers of the academy helped me a lot. He said that all players always work hard, but you win only when it matters. It’s not that we don’t work hard when we lose.
All players are talented
Fakhar Zaman said that all the players in the team are talented. But you need a rhythm. We gained momentum from the match against South Africa. Even though we lost the match, we fought till the end. He said that during the match against New Zealand we were thinking about the net run rate. They even talked about it after every 2 overs. The team management had planned this in advance. We also benefited from this.
New Zealand and India are playing with the same strategy, one mistake can be costly, one mistake increased Rohit Sharma’s tension.
8-8 points for both teams
If we look at the points table of World Cup 2023, Pakistan and New Zealand have 8-8 points after 8-8 matches. But the Kiwi team’s net run rate is 0.398, while Pakistan’s is 0.036. In such a situation, if the New Zealand team wins their last match by even one run, Pakistan will have to win the match by 130 runs to surpass New Zealand’s net run rate. In the final match, New Zealand will face Sri Lanka and Pakistan will face New Zealand.
Along with this, the Afghanistan team has also become a headache for everyone from Pakistan to New Zealand. He has 8 points in 7 matches. A win in such a scenario would take them to 10 points. However, they have to play the last two matches against big teams like South Africa and Australia.
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Tags: Babar Azam, best time, World Cup 2023
First published: November 5, 2023, 08:26 IST