{"id":21657,"date":"2023-11-05T23:22:27","date_gmt":"2023-11-05T23:22:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/fakhar-zaman-sparkles-to-keep-calculated-pakistan-in-the-hunt\/"},"modified":"2023-11-05T23:22:27","modified_gmt":"2023-11-05T23:22:27","slug":"fakhar-zaman-sparkles-to-keep-calculated-pakistan-in-the-hunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/fakhar-zaman-sparkles-to-keep-calculated-pakistan-in-the-hunt\/","title":{"rendered":"Fakhar Zaman sparkles to keep \u2018calculated\u2019 Pakistan in the hunt"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<p><figure class=\"media  sm:w-full  w-full  media--stretch    media--uneven  media--stretch\"><figcaption class=\"media__caption  \">Bengaluru: Fakhar Zaman celebrates after scoring a century during the World Cup match against New Zealand at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.\u2014AFP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p>BENGALURU: At long last, led by the imperious Fakhar Zaman, Pakis\u00adtan showed driving ambition and clarity of thought at the World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>On a rainy Saturday here at the M. Chinnas\u00adwa\u00admy Stadium, in a game they needed to win to stay alive, Pakistan found a way. This time, they weren\u2019t clueless about what needed to be done. This time, they didn\u2019t succumb to adversity.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media  sm:w-1\/2  w-full  media--right  media--embed  media--uneven\">\n<p>    <iframe class=\"nk-iframe\" onload=\"setInterval(()=&gt;{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"height:400px;position:relative\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/card\/1786343\" sandbox=\"allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>New Zealand had plundered Pakistan for 401-6 in their stipulated overs here in India\u2019s Garden City.<\/p>\n<p>How they responded with the bat, was a show of mental fortitude and exceptional planning, something that couldn\u2019t have been associated with the Babar Azam-led side until probably the last week.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote-level-1\">\n<p>Pakistan master daunting chase against NZ to stay alive in last-four race<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>To act like that, Pakistan needed inspiration. It was provided by Fakhar \u2014 a man who many didn\u2019t even want to be a part of the World Cup squad. Others kept dubbing him as Pakistan\u2019s \u201cX-factor\u201d, waiting for his day to come.<\/p>\n<p>When the day came, it came in a bundle of two. After playing lead in Pakistan\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1785347\/bowlers-fakhar-shine-as-pakistan-rout-bangladesh-to-stay-alive\">thrashing of Bangladesh<\/a> in Kolkata on Tuesday, Fakhar\u2019s sparkling 126 not out was a knock to remember.<\/p>\n<p>It set Pakistan\u2019s course in a tricky chase and his innings saw his side well ahead of the DLS par score. When the heavens opened up, Babar\u2019s men winning the contests by 21 runs.<\/p>\n<p>The win gave Pakistan two crucial points, an improved run-rate and a ray of hope to make it to the Cup semi-finals by finishing fourth in the league standings. They are now level on points with fourth-placed New Zealand and sixth-placed Afghanistan, the other side in the mix.<\/p>\n<p>Afghanistan, however, have a game in hand with Pakistan and New Zealand only having their final league fixture to come.<\/p>\n<p>Third-placed Australia pushed closer to a place in the semis with their victory over beleaguered holders England in Saturday\u2019s other game and the way they\u2019re performing, it doesn\u2019t seem they will be missing out on a spot.<\/p>\n<p>Pakistan\u2019s last game is against England on Saturday, by when New Zealand will already have played Sri Lanka and Afghanistan too would\u2019ve played their ninth games. It effectively means, they\u2019ll know what they have to do, just like against New Zealand where Pakistan had all the calculations sorted and played accordingly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had it in the back of our minds that it will rain and planned accordingly,\u201d Fakhar said during the post-match press conference.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe sent a message to the management after 15 overs, that it is drizzling, so tell us how many overs \u2014 because we knew that before 20 overs the DLS method is not applicable, so we asked them what target we need to achieve in 20 overs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf course, planning is very important at that stage, playing without planning is very difficult. We had planned yesterday also and even today we played over by over.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pakistan were rocked early in their chase when his fellow opener Abdullah Shafique was caught superbly by New Zealand captain Kane Williamson, but Fakhar and his skipper Babar (66 not out) stitched a blistering 194-run stand to keep Pakistan head of the par score on both occasions the match was interrupted.<\/p>\n<p>The opener revealed he and his captain had assessed that the pitch was good enough for even a 400-run target to be chased. The situation, due to the rain, did not demand that though.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs soon as Babar came out, I told him that the wicket is not swinging and if we maintain a good partnership, it will be very easy for us later,\u201d he said. \u201cWe understood very early on that the wicket is good and we can chase the score of 400.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fakhar admitted Pakistan may have hit form too late in the tournament, but now they have got the rhythm.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis team is very talented,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you see from the beginning till now \u2014 it just that we need a rhythm, which we tend to lose over time. I think our team lacks a rhythm and when we get that rhythm then everyone plays well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite the Pakistan bowlers being smacked for 400 runs, Fakhar was of the opinion they bowled well given the conditions at play.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven in this match at the end the bowlers made a very good comeback,\u201d he said. \u201cThe way the wicket was playing, I think we saved 30 to 40 runs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pacer Mohammad Wasim (3-60) was the pick of the four Pakistan pacers who played the game and he too echoed Fakhar\u2019s views.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe wicket was really difficult to bowl,\u201d he said. \u201cI think they could have gone on to score 440-450 but we bowled well by the end.\u201d He added Pakistan bowlers were getting used to the conditions here in India and that was helping them.<\/p>\n<p>For their form to be of some use, fate now needs to be on Pakistan\u2019s side for them to potentially face archrivals India in the semi-final in Kolkata.<\/p>\n<p><em>Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2023<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bengaluru: Fakhar Zaman celebrates after scoring a century during the World Cup match against New Zealand at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.\u2014AFP BENGALURU: At long last, led by the imperious Fakhar Zaman, Pakis\u00adtan showed driving ambition and clarity of thought at the World Cup. On a rainy Saturday here at the M. Chinnas\u00adwa\u00admy Stadium, in a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2023\/11\/6547011f13bd1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[192],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-islamabad-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}