Babar Azam Gesture To Mohammed Nabi – Fazalhaq Farooqi vs Naseem Shah. Almost a year after the epic finish from Naseem Shah with the bat against Afghanistan seamer Fazalhaq Farooqi in the Asia Cup 2022 match in Sharjah, the Pakistani tailender produced an encore of the same, this time in the 2nd ODI of the series in Hambantota.
Like it looked last year, Afghanistan were in a strong position to send a shock defeat over Pakistan, and once again, Naseem Shah made a jailbreak with the bat to break the Afghani hearts.
As it was in last year’s match with plenty of drama which even threatened a physical altercation, this time, though things didn’t get that far, there was huge drama as Fazalhaq Farooqi ran out Shadab Khan at the non-striker’s end when Shadab was backing too far outside the non-striker’s crease as Farooqi was about to bowl the first ball of the last over with Pakistan needing 11 runs off the last 6 balls.
On the last two balls of the 49th over, Shadab had smashed a 4 and 6 to Abdul Rahman to bring the equation down to needing 11 off 6 but he was on the non-striker’s end for the start of the 50th over. Desperate to get back on strike, Shadab ran out of his crease a bit too early, and Fazalhaq Farooqi, who smartly anticipated this move from Shadab, ran the spinner out. Shadab knew his fate and didn’t even look back and continued walking to the dressing room.
Fazalhaq Farooqi, however, couldn’t defend 11 runs as Naseem Shah cracked him for two boundaries in the over to take Pakistan over the line and keep Pakistan’s clean record over Afghanistan in ODIs intact.
Babar Azam fumes at Mohammed Nabi, points fingers during handshkaes after match
Pakistan captain Babar Azam fumed later on during the handshakes after the match was completed. Clearly displeased by Farooqi running out Shadab at the non-striker’s end, Babar Azam made his views clear to senior Afghanistan player Mohammad Nabi, seemingly pointing finger at Farooqi.
Watch: Angry Babar Azam points finger during handshakes
Even they made babar looks angry. 😤 ❤️🔥#BabarAzam𓃵 #BabarAzam #PAKvAFG #NaseemShah pic.twitter.com/697t3HhNXd
— Anas Tweets (@tweeets_by_anas) August 24, 2023
Pakistan have sealed the series 2-0. The 3rd ODI will be played on Saturday.
