Pakistan batter Babar Azam on Wednesday (17th January) achieved an unwanted feat to his name. He became the first Asian cricketer to score three half-centuries in a losing cause in the history of the shortest format of the game.
Babar Azam achieved the feat in the third T20I against New Zealand, which Pakistan lost by the margin of 45 runs. The batter was yet again shining a light for the team as he played a crucial innings for his team but for the third time failed to take the team home.
Babar Azam was the lone warrior for the team in the third game as he slammed his third consecutive half-century and made sure that he kept his team in the hunt. New Zealand set a massive target of 224 runs on the board and it was expected that Pakistan would make a strong impact.
They didn’t have a great start. But Babar Azam held the fort and played some sensational shots. He smashed New Zealand bowlers all over the park and till the time he was at the crease he made sure that he kept his team in the hunt.
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Babar Azam batted till the 16th over and it almost looked like he took his team close to the target. However, he couldn’t get going as he perished to Ish Sodhi and with his wicket the hopes of the Pakistan cricket team shattered as they lost the game.
Babar Azam scored 58 runs off 37 balls in the third T20I. He batted with a strike rate of over 156 and scored 8 fours and 1 six. This was his third consecutive half-century in the series. But with that, he became the first Asian to score 3 fifties in losing causes in a T20i series.
PAK vs NZ: He needed someone at the other end to take the innings deeper – Shaheen Afridi on Babar Azam
Pakistan captain Shaheen Afridi talked about the loss after the game. He praised Babar Azam for the kind of display he has put in the three games but also mentioned that the batter didn’t get the support from the other end in all the games.
Speaking during a press-conference, he said: “I had said it earlier as well that Babar was not out of form. We cannot judge him on the basis of a few innings. He has played three fine innings in three matches in the series. He could not finish the matches in our favour. He needed someone at the other end to take the innings deeper. If there was another batter at the other end with Babar, we could have finished the game in our favour.”
The fourth T20I between Pakistan and New Zealand will be played on Friday (19th January). Pakistan would be hoping be make a comeback and win the last two games.