Putting the horror show in Australia behind them, Pakistan reached New Zealand with the hopes of redeeming themselves in the 5-match T20I series. As Shaheen Afridi and his team looked to pile pressure with the ball, the fielders, including former skipper Babar Azam helped little in the fielding, dropping chance after chance. First, it was Babar who dropped an easy catch involving New Zealand’s Kane Williamson, later it was Iftikhar Ahmed who gave the dangerous Daryl Mitchell a lifeline.
It wasn’t just about the dropped catches, Pakistan fielders even found it tough to produce their best efforts in the field to stop unnecessary runs from being taken. The result was social media breaking loose to heavily troll the Pakistan team for its fielding efforts.
Pakistan fielding at its best.#PAKvsNZ pic.twitter.com/9QbQZ4Nhi6
— M A R Y A M (@maryam_says56) January 12, 2024
Iftikhar Ahmed at backward Point
Pakistan Fielding at its Best pic.twitter.com/B9AW3awgI6
— Dinda Academy (@academy_dinda) January 12, 2024
Zimbabar Drops the Easy catch. Pakistan and their fielding. Bhai hum nahi sudhrega. I think he is not happy, that he had been removed from Captaincy #PAKvsNZ #NZvPAK pic.twitter.com/CUWfZ0dIBN
— Akki (@akki042790) January 12, 2024
Watching Pakistan fielding#PAKvsNZ pic.twitter.com/L9PFQ8r69b
— Usama Arshad (@usama_here2) January 12, 2024
Pakistan Fielding #PAKvNZ pic.twitter.com/mPmVKbkVBJ
— Shoaib Iqbal (@shebimushtaq143) January 12, 2024
Babar Azam the 12th man of New Zealand #PAKvsNZpic.twitter.com/9XKOOM4pmB
— Gaurav (@viratian_83) January 12, 2024
The result of the dropped Williamson catch was that the Kiwi skipper went on to score a half-century before eventually being dismissed. Even Mitchell crossed the 50-run mark with the bat, tormenting Pakistan bowlers.
With Shaheen Afridi replacing Babar Azam as the team’s T20I skipper, Pakistan’s fortunes were expected to witness a change for the good but little has gone right for them, especially in the field.
Even with the ball, Pakistan’s hero on the Test tour of Australia, Aamer Jamal, conceded a whopping 56 runs in 4 overs against the power-packed New Zealand batters. The likes of Usama Mir and Shaheen Shah Afridi also went for big runs while Abbas Afridi proved to be the biggest wicket-taking source.
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