Irfan Pathan is not pleased with Fakhar Zaman’s Player of the Match victory. Former Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan has stated that he believes Shaheen Afridi should have won Player of the Match for his three-wicket effort against Bangladesh during Pakistan vs. Bangladesh at the ICC World Cup 2023 in Eden Garden, Kolkata.
The game ended up being a one-sided contest, with Pakistan defeating Bangladesh by a margin of seven wickets. Irfan Pathan disapproved with the organisers’ choice to give the prize to Fakhar Zaman.
With their efforts to the game, many Pakistani players made an impression on the onlookers that lasted long. While openers Abdullah Shafique and Fakhar Zaman each scored half-centuries, Afridi and Mohammad Wasim each took three wickets.
Zaman scored 81 runs off 74 balls, including three boundaries and seven maximums, earning him the title of Man of the Match. Irfan Pathan expressed his thoughts on X (formerly Twitter) after the match ended, saying:
Pakistan have to be aggressive in their game against Bangladesh, who are lacking confidence. They executed it really effectively. The Man of the Match award ought to have gone to Shaheen.”
Notably, following the opening match, this was Zaman’s comeback to the competition. He replaced Imam-ul-Haq, who was not playing well, in the starting lineup.
Shaheen Afridi, who managed this triumph for Pakistan by getting rid of three important Bangladeshi batsmen early in the game, seems to have said what Irfan Pathan said. In the opening over of play, Tanzid Hasan was removed by the left-arm fast bowler.
The in-form Mahmudullah was then removed by Afridi in the middle overs after the latter had sent Najmul Hossain Shanto back to the pavilion in the third over. In nine overs, Afridi finished with statistics of 3/23.
