Pakistan top-order batter Saim Ayub has stated that they are playing and scoring better than before in Pakistan cricket under coach Mike Hesson. His comments sparked an indirect attack on the intent of cricketers like Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan.
Pakistan lost the first T20I against South Africa as the Salman Agha-led side failed despite Babar Azam’s return to the shortest format of the game. Fakhar Zaman was no longer a part of the team after the Asia Cup. This marked their second straight loss in T20Is and fourth loss in 8 games.
The Mike Hesson era marked many changes to the Pakistan setup; however, there has been no significant impact of those changes. They have reached the final of the Asia Cup; however, they failed to win it.
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If you look, we’ve scored above par in many games – Saim Ayub
After the loss against South Africa in the first T20I, where Pakistan were once again dismissed within the limit of 140 runs, reporters questioned Saim Ayub over the consistency of Pakistan in getting bowled out under Mike Hesson’s coaching.
Saim Ayub didn’t take this as a sporting remark and went on to project the previous outings of Pakistan, where they had performed even worse, to justify Hesson’s strategies and their form in recent times.
“If you look, we’ve scored above par in many games. We played the Asia Cup final & we’ve been trying to score above par, which usually didn’t happen in our cricket before,” said Saim Ayub, which seemed like an indirect attack on the Pakistan greats Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan.
Babar Azam falls for a duck on T20I comeback
On return to the Pakistan T20I side after a humiliating snub from the Asia Cup campaign, nothing seemed to have gone Babar Azam’s way. Criticized and left out for his lack of intent and low strike rate, Azam was snubbed from the Pakistan team.
In his return game, he has once again been dismissed without scoring. Corbin Bosch, the most successful South African bowler in the game, struck for the first time with the wicket of the Pakistani veteran.
George Linde’s all-round show leads Proteas to a dominant victory in Rawalpindi
George Linde, the South African all-rounder, led the Proteas to an early lead in the series with his all-round show. However, Corbin Bosch also remains another dominant performer with the ball, while Reeza Hendricks was also promising with the bat.
After Hendricks’ 60, Linde’s death overcame a cameo and helped South Africa set a target of 195 in front of the home side, who never looked good enough to chase it. Linde picked 3 wickets, and Bosch took 4 wickets, giving away just 31 and 14 runs, respectively.
Saim Ayub top-scored for Pakistan with 37 runs, and Mohammad Nawaz was their best batter, having struck 36 runs at a strike rate of 180. Linde was named the player of the match.
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