Fakhar Zaman of Pakistan throughout ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup ODI between Pakistan and New Zealand.
| Photo Credit: BHAGYA PRAKASH Ok
Preparation, laborious work, chutzpah, shortcomings — these have been strains accessible in equal measure within the fibres of each New Zealand and Pakistan, however Player-of-the-Match Fakhar Zaman put his facet’s victory by 21 runs (Duckworth and Lewis Method) down fairly merely to luck.
“When you perform, people can see your work but they don’t when you don’t find success,” Zaman mentioned after his unbeaten 81-ball 126 mauling of the Black Caps right here on Saturday.
The 33-year-old devoted the win, which retains Pakistan alive within the event, to crew fielding coach Aftab Khan.
“Aftab has an academy in Peshawar. He identified that I tend to struggle against off-spinners, he’s one himself, and so he worked on it with me. He identified my weaknesses and gave me time to fix them. You need people like that around you,” Zaman mentioned.
Pakistan’s director of cricket Mickey Arthur had, earlier than this fixture, hinted at diving deep into analysis and technique and the outcomes have been there for all to see. “We knew there was a possibility of rain and wanted to ensure our score stays above the mark. We got messages on what our score needed to be at different stages.”
New Zealand, regardless of an distinctive batting present, discovered itself laborious accomplished by Saqlain Mushtaq’s notorious Qudrat ka Nizam (method of nature) quip. However, Kane Williamson emphasised that the pep talks will probably be brief and the crew will take its classes and look ahead.
“There’s a lot left in this tournament for us. Although it’s a frustrating result for us after so much of it going so well, the quicker we move on and focus on our next challenge, the better,” he mentioned.
Zaman has now scored 4 centuries towards the Black Caps in ODIs this yr and Williamson doffed his hat off to his model of play.
Hard hitting
“When Fakhar’s going, not many grounds are big enough. This one certainly wasn’t.
“He swung seriously hard and he hit everything off the middle of his bat and it went for miles. Today was probably one of his finest efforts,” the Kiwi captain added.
