The 1st Warm-up match of ICC WC2023 is being played between Pak & NZ. Babar Azam, Captain PCT, won the toss and elected to bat first in the maiden warm-up match against the Black Caps. Abdullah Shafique and Imam ul Haq opened the inning from Pakistan’s side in the first practice match against NZ.
After getting run-of-the-mill, Imam got out in the 3rd over when the team’s scorecard was only 6. One Down batter, Babar Azam, joined Abdullah Shafique to resume the proceedings. Both batters managed only 33 at the end of the 1st powerplay. The commencement of the 2nd Powerplay was either not good for the Pakistan Team as they lost well-settled opener Abdullah Shafique in the 12th over of the match.
Pakistan Wicket Keeping Batter and captain Both played superbly. Babar Azam departed after scoring 80 off 84 in the 30th over. It was Muhammad Rizwan who took the charge and completed his 100 off 93 balls on the 2nd last ball of the 40th over of the inning with the help of 2 sixes and 9 fours. After scoring the century he was retired out. Salman Ali Agha the No. 6 batter joined Saud to resume the services. At the end of the 2nd powerplay Pakistan scored 238 at a run rate of 5.95 at the loss of 4 wickets. Conclusively, Pakistan had added 205 runs at the lost of only 2 wickets in this 2nd powerplay with the run rate of 6.83. Mitchell Santer was pick of the bowler in the 2nd phase of the inning who took two important wickets of Babar and Shafique.
Saud and Agha continued their expedition and smashed all around the gound. Saud looked superb with the bat and smashed 42 ball 50 in the warm-up game against NZ with the help of three 4s and three 6s. whilst Agha was also feeling the heat. Pakistan crossed 300 landmark in the 46th over. Saud Shakeel departed after brilliant knock of 75 off just 53 deliveries with 140+ strike rate. Next came Shadab, the vice captain of PCT. The offcolour allrounder opened his shoulder a bit and hit 2 consecutive 6s in the 2nd last over to stretch the scorecard. He departed in the final over and Iftikhar joined his partner Agha who managed a six and single to end the inning with Pakistan scroing 345 for the loss of 5 wickets. Ther only bowler who got the wicket of Saud Shakeel was Ferguson. The final 10 overs resulted 107 runs with 10.7 might run rate. This huge contribution piled up massive 345 on board for Pakistan.
