World Cup 2019: Twitter reacts as Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi help Pakistan keep their semi-final hopes alive
The points table of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 was set in stone until yesterday when hosts England took on Australia. With England’s third defeat, the road to semi-finals opened for a lot of low lying teams, including Pakistan. They further consolidated their hopes by beating second-placed New Zealand by 6 wickets.
Chasing a target of 238, Pakistan found themselves wanting as they lost both of their openers early. While the game was still not out of their grasp, the men in green needed a solid partnership. Mohammad Hafeez and Babar Azam did just that as the duo put up a partnership of 66 runs.
After Hafeez’s dismissal, Azam embarked on his mission with Haris Sohail as his partner. Sohail, who has been in good form recently, was equal to the task, scoring 68 runs from just 76 deliveries. After setting up a base cautiously and steadily, the pair unleashed in the last few overs to secure two points for their team.
New Zealand’s openers disappointed once again. However, unlike the previous games, the duo of Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor failed to bail the Kiwis out. They lost four wickets before amassing 50 runs, with Shaheen Afridi inflicting much of the damages.
After skipper Kane Williamson’s dismissal, even 200 was looking like a far-fetched dream. But James Neesham played one of his most splendid knocks while an in-form Colin de Grandhomme kept the runs flowing. While the latter scored 64, the former was left stranded at 97 as his team reached a respectable total of 237.
Shaheen Afridi was exceptional with the ball while James Neesham played a magnificent knock. But Babar Azam was well and truly the star of the match. Pakistan’s innings needed someone to play the anchor’s role, and the 24-year-old from Lahore did it perfectly. His unbeaten knock of 101 runs took Pakistan over the line without any dreaded hiccups and placed Pakistan in the sixth position on the points table.
Here's how Twitter reacted to Pakistan's win:
Also read – Lowest total defended in world cup
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