PAK vs NZ: Hassan Ali trolled for clumsily dropping Santner's catch
- By Web Desk -
- Nov 04, 2023
Pakistan pacer Hassan Ali on Saturday came under criticism for dropping New Zealand’s Mitchell Santner’s catch in the rain-affected ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 fixture at Bengaluru’s M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.
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In the 50th over of New Zealand innings, Mitchell Santner lofted Shaheen Afridi’s short delivery pitched outside off-stump. Hassan Ali, who was standing too deep, could not get underneath the ball that swooped like a falling star.
It was a costly mistake as the batter smashed a six, two runs and a single to take the score over 400 runs.
Just Hasan Ali & Pakistan doing Pakistani things #PakistanCricketTeam #PAKvNZ #ICCCricketWorldCup pic.twitter.com/85gyUpKPHN
— Johatsu (@The_Johatsu) November 4, 2023
Pakistan, on the other hand, kept their chances of reaching the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 semifinals by defeating New Zealand by 21 runs under the Duckworth Lewis Method.
New Zealand, being asked to bat first under batting-friendly conditions, put on a daunting total of 401-6 on the back of opener Rachin Ravindra’s century and captain Kane Williamson’s fifty.
The left-handed batter continued to impress with his 94-ball 108 with the help of 15 fours and a six. The Kiwi frontman, who returned after nursing a fractured finger, missed out on his century as he got dismissed for 95 off 79 deliveries with 10 fours and two maximums to his name.
They put on a 180-run stand on the second wicket.
Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman and opener Devon Conway played handy knocks of 41, 39 and 35.
Pakistan, chasing a 402-run target, suffered an early blow as opener Abdullah Shafique got dismissed for four runs. However, opener Fakhar Zaman and captain Babar Azam had other plans as they took the Kiwi bowling attack.
Fakhar Zaman was the aggressive of the two as he smashed a century and Babar Azam played a supporting role. The left-handed batter scored a century before the rain interrupted proceedings for the first time.
Pakistan resumed their innings at 160-1 and the situation turned dire for New Zealand when spinner Ish Sodhi was brought into the attack.
They feasted on some ordinary bowling with Babar Azam completing his half-century. The rain played spoilsport again when Pakistan were 200-1 with Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam staying unbeaten at 126 and 66 respectively.
The fixture was called off and the match was awarded to Pakistan as the Green Shirts were 21 runs ahead according to the DLS method.
Related – ICC Cricket World Cup 2023: Pakistan captain Babar Azam still hopes to reach semifinals