World Cup 2023: 'He played his natural game', Babar Azam happy with Fakhar Zaman's display as Pakistan beat Bangladesh

Pakistan captain Babar Azam was all praise for comeback man Fakhar Zaman, saying that the opener played a “natural game” against Bangladesh in their 2023 World Cup match in Kolkata on Tuesday.

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Fakhar, who had missed five of Pakistan’s six matches prior to this due to a knee injury, announced his return with a 74-ball 81, helping the Men in Green chase down 242 with seven wickets and 17.3 overs to spare. While Pakistan kept their semi-final hopes alive with the win, Bangladesh were all but knocked out of the World Cup.

“All credit to the boys the way we played in all three departments. We know, if Fakhar bats for 20-30 overs, it’s a different ball game, he played his natural game. Good to see him do it,” Babar said after the match.

Babar hoped Pakistan’s win would give them confidence, heading into the final two league games against New Zealand (4 November) and England (11 November).

“This win hopefully gives confidence in the coming matches. Shaheen started well with the ball. After 15-20 overs, they built a partnership. But our main bowlers struck. Main thing was our bowlers hit good lengths and took wickets. Thanks to the fans for supporting me and my team,” added Babar.

Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan rued his team’s disappointed performance with the bat, and lamented that his team’s top four batters had not got the desired runs.

“Not enough runs, The wicket was really good, we lost early wickets again. There were some partnerships, but not big partnerships. Disappointing with the bat. Credit should go to Pakistan, the way they bowled and the way they batted in the first 10 overs,” said Shakib.

“We’ll have to think about that (Shakib’s batting position). We are not getting many runs from the top four batsmen. I was batting in the top four, I wasn’t scoring. My confidence was low too. Luckily I got some runs, felling better now. At this moment, changing too many things gets difficult,” added the 36-year-old.

Shakib stressed on the importance of a collective performance. “We have to perform together. We need collective performance, which is not happening. Two more matches, hopefully we can bounce back. Everywhere we go, they (fans) keep supporting us. We have to give something back to them so they can smile” concluded the all-rounder.