Former India all-rounder and now a commentator, Irfan Pathan is not happy with the judges who named Fakhar Zaman the man of the match for the Pakistan vs Bangladesh match in Kolkata on Tuesday.
Pakistan recorded the emphatic of their three wins in the World Cup 2023 when they defeated Bangladesh by 7 wickets in Kolkata. The decision makers for the Man of the Match award were split between Fakhar Zaman, who scored 81 off 74 balls to help Pakistan chase down the target of 205 and also boost their NRR, and Shaheen. Afridi, who took three wickets. Top 5 Batsmen – Tanzeed Hasan, Nazmul Shanto and Mahmudullah.
While Fakhar gave a strong start with the bat in the chase, Shaheen laid the foundation for the win with his three strikes, the first two of which came in his opening spell. Shaheen finished with figures of 9-1-23-3.
Shaheen should have got man of the match: Irfan Pathan
Irfan Pathan today praised Pakistan for its aggressive cricket under the leadership of Fakhar Zaman. However, Irfan Pathan said that the Man of the Match award should have gone to Shaheen Afridi for his match-winning spell.
“Playing against Bangladesh, who are low on confidence, Pakistan needs to play aggressively,” he said. He did this work very well. Shaheen should have been given the man of the match award,” Irfan Pathan tweeted.
On receiving the Man of the Match award, Fakhar Zaman said: “After the Asia Cup, I practiced a lot on my batting, I was looking good in the camp and was keen to make it into the team. Today, after getting the opportunity, my hard work paid off. I told Abdullah that I would watch the first few overs, I knew I could hit big sixes. My role is to make it easy for my partner, so it was important to see the first few overs and then play my shots. After reaching 100 NRR was on our mind, the target was to finish it in 30 overs. I got a lot of failures, I was expecting such innings and hopefully I will score big in the next few matches.
