New Zealand opener Will Young defeated Shaheen Afridi through the cover, in which Zaman chased. They cut it back to Babar Azam before raising the ball to throw it back near the keeper, but immediately appeared to be discomfort in the lower back or side. He indicated that he needed to change, and went out of the field with physio, although he went back to the dressing room.
Shortly after, the PCB said in a statement, “Fakhar Zaman is being evaluated and an appearance is being investigated and will be provided at the time of further updates.”
Fakhar returned to the ground after spending a little more than two hours, preventing him from chasing Pakistan’s 321. Saud Shakeel opened with Babur Azar and Fakhar came only in the decline of Mohammad Rizwan in tenth place. He was deprived of any batting time with fielding restrictions in the place, when his reputation to kill electricity could be useful for Pakistan.
Almost from the beginning, however, it was clear that he would be unable to contribute that kind. He was unstable on his feet and was struggling with running between wickets. On more than one occasions, he slipped to his knees between overs, coming with the team’s doctors and physio painkiller. While he attempted to play the attacker stroke, which is essential with the position of the match occasionally, it was something with a tortured knock. Before trying to sweep Michael Bracewell, he managed 24 of the 41 – a shot he was posted throughout the innings – only to remember completely and to see his stump scattered.
Pakistan was interrupted by Sam Aub’s injury under equal conditions, a one who eventually kept him out of the Champions Trophy. In a test against South Africa, he brought a ball to the border and turned his ankle. This resulted in a fracture that would exclude it by at least mid -March. Fakhar, who was not part of Pakistan’s ODI plans by then, returned as Ayub’s replacement, and scored 69 runs in 28 in his first two matches and scored 28 runs, an impressive comeback.
The game marked the return of ICC tournament cricket in Pakistan after 1996, with a huge crowd outside the National Stadium in Karachi in a few hours before the beginning. Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari attended the inauguration ceremony and was followed by an Air Force fly-paste parade after the toss, which Pakistan won and asked New Zealand to bat.
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