Babar Azam responding to chants of his name in Hyderabad© Twitter
As Pakistan took on Netherlands in their openign ICC Cricket World Cup match, Babar Azam‘s men emerged victorious by a comfortable margin of 81 runs. Though the match saw Pakistan take 2 points from their first match of the campaign, skipper Babar Azam would’ve wanted to do a little more with the bat. It wasn’t the most promising performance from Babar as a batter but that didn’t have reduce his fan following, with fans chanting his name at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
A video has surfaced on social media where Babar Azam chants can be heard at the stadium. Even the Pakistan skipper responded to the fans’ chants by putting a hand around his ear, acknowledging the supporters. Here’s the video:
After the match, Babar said that he was quite pleased with the sort of support the Pakistan team has enjoyed since reaching Hyderabad.
“The way Hyderabad supports us, we are very happy. Our team is enjoying the hospitality. Pretty satisfied, credit to the bowlers, the way started well and the way we took wickets in the middle overs. We lost three wickets, the way Rizwan and Saud batted put pressure on the Netherlands. Saud built his innings and played well. He has improved a lot. Our bowlers bowled very well, we stuck to our plans, Haris bowled quick and took wickets,” he said after the game.
Saud Shakeel was the player of the match for Pakistan, scoring 68 runs off 52 balls after the team lost the top three batters early.
“Tried to be positive and score runs for the team. Nerves were there, we lost 3 wickets but I was fortunate enough to get early boundaries. We knew the pressure would go back to them if we got a start. I think the last 2-3 months I’ve been playing hard, I knew I’d bat number 5 for Pakistan and have been developing my shots according to that – sweeps and reverse sweeps. Thanks to the crowd as well, and I want to thank my coach as well for helping me out,” said Shakeel.
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