Pakistani captain Babar Azam equalled the T20I file for many wins by a captain, becoming a member of Indian legend MS Dhoni with 41 victories. Azam achieved this milestone after Pakistan defeated New Zealand by 88 runs within the first T20I match of the five-match sequence on the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. The 28-year-old Azam led the Men in Green for the 67th time in T20Is and secured his forty first win as Pakistan skipper in his a centesimal T20I match.
Good teamwork tonight! Expecting extra of the identical tomorrow _ pic.twitter.com/5ScIHkpqQG
— Babar Azam (@babarazam258) April 14, 2023
Dhoni, who led India in 72 T20I matches, achieved the identical feat of 41 victories. Azam matched Dhoni’s file in 5 matches fewer than the Indian celebrity. Azam now shares the second place with a number of different captains with probably the most wins within the shortest format of worldwide cricket. He might attain the highest place if Pakistan wins the second match in opposition to New Zealand, which will even happen in Lahore. Former England captain Eoin Morgan and ex-Afghanistan skipper Asghar Stanikzai at present maintain the highest place with 42 wins as T20I captains.
Azam was appointed because the captain of Pakistan’s T20I staff in 2019, and he has received 41 matches out of 67, with 21 defeats. He is the third Pakistani batter to have performed in 100 or extra T20I matches. In the match in opposition to New Zealand, Azam was dismissed for simply 9 runs from seven balls, however due to Fakhar Zaman and Saim Ayub, who each scored 47 runs every, Pakistan managed to submit a complete of 182 runs in 19.5 overs, dropping all 10 wickets.
“I wasn’t expecting this (my 100th T20I game), grateful that I have achieved this feat. It was a team effort. We lost early wickets, but Fakhar and Ayub built the innings. Saim has been improving day by day, wish him good luck. I think our batters set up a good total on this wicket. We had a good bowling line-up, Rauf bowled well and so did the other bowlers. It’s good when you have many options. It was a collective effort as all the bowlers stuck to their plans,” Babar stated after the win on the post-match presentation.
Despite the preventing complete, New Zealand, fielding a second-string staff with out captain Kane Williamson, fell far quick of their chase, getting dismissed for simply 94 runs in 15.3 overs. Pakistani bowler Haris Rauf led the bowling assault, taking 4 wickets for simply 17 runs. The subsequent match within the sequence is ready to happen on April 15 in Lahore.
