Pakistan’s coach Matthew Hayden was convinced that Babar Azam’s poor form at the T20 World Cup would not last forever, despite Azam’s forgettable performance so far. Indeed, Hayden has said that nobody should be shocked if Babar lights the stage on fire while playing against New Zealand.
On November 9th, Pakistan was facing New Zealand in the first semi-final of the Twenty20 World Cup at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The Men in Green lost their first two games of the tournament against India and Zimbabwe, but they bounced back to win the next three. Meanwhile, there was little cause for concern over Pakistan qualifying for the semi-finals after Netherlands’ win against South Africa.
Babar Azam, captain of the Pakistani team, has been having a terrible campaign. Babar’s records in the five games played so far are 0, 4, 6, and 25. The team’s coach, Matthew Hayden, wasn’t concerned with his recent performance because he knows he was due for a huge score.
Babar came back to form in the semi-final against New Zealand. While chasing a total of 153 runs, both the openers got off to a blazing start. Babar Azam scored his first fifty in the tournament. He scored 50 runs off 38 balls. Pakistan is on course for a place in the finals. Babar will be mighty pleased with his team’s bowling performance and also the way they started their innings while chasing the total.
New Zealand Playing XI: Finn Allen, Devon Conway (wk), Kane Williamson (c), Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult
Pakistan Playing XI: Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Haris, Shan Masood, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi
Twitter Reacts:
Current King Babar Better than Any INTL version Of Minnow Basher Kohli
Advertisement— R.🐊 (@cv7llli) November 9, 2022
Conway drop catch on 0 is hurting badly now. That’s why CATCHES WINS U MATCHES.
— Letsgobabysuu (@letsgoobabyyy) November 9, 2022
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Pakistan winning today just to lose against India in final
Advertisement— Cricket Crazy 🇮🇳 (@CricketCrazy00) November 9, 2022
King Babar Azam
— CricCrazy 🇵🇰 (@CricCrazy__) November 9, 2022
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Advertisement— Rahul Sharma (@CricFnatic) November 9, 2022
Fixer CSGay blood Conway dropped Babar's catch.
— HeyYa (@I_say_factos) November 9, 2022
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and our indian players will choke in knock out matches 🥲 pic.twitter.com/xfw1JulYzR
Advertisement— Joseph Vijay Fan (@itz_Vijaymaniac) November 9, 2022
Babar scored 39 runs in 5 matches with Average of 8 😭🤣
Even Ashwin socred more runs as bowler than him
He only playing in today's match with dropped on first ball so it's luck favoured him otherwise Babar is most overrated player— Mittul Bakshi (@mittul_bakshi25) November 9, 2022
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