LAHORE: Pakistan captain Babar Azam thinks that Shadab Khan’s failure to catch Mark Chapman at a vital moment turned the tide of the game, as the left-hander went on to produce an undefeated hundred and win the fifth T20I for New Zealand, bringing the series to 2-2.

 In the fourteenth over, Chapman attempted to go deep against Shaheen but spliced it, allowing it to travel to Shadab, who dropped an easy catch while sprinting across from wide long-on. Chapman completed 104 not-out innings from 57 balls while batting on 67 at that time.

 At the news conference following the game, Babar stated, “The dropped catch cost us the game.”

The Pakistani skipper, however, immediately defended his all-rounder and vowed to continue to back him. “Shadab has performed quite a bit in the past. We don’t care if his performance isn’t strong in one particular series. He will perform once again with our support.” “I believe that the way we initially started, you kept in mind about 180, 190 on these surfaces in Pindi. And given how Rizwan and Iftikhar were performing, I believed 200 was possible because the wicket improves even more in the second innings,” according to Babar.

 The five-match ODI series between the two teams will begin on April 27 in Rawalpindi.

Published in The Daily National Courier, April, 26 2023

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