'Iftikhar Dhoni ki tarah khel raha hai par end me...': Pakistan legend's massive statement on side's 32-year-old batter
The Pakistan great spoke in detail about Iftikhar Ahmed, as he gave his opinion on the side's middle-order crisis ahead of the T20 World Cup.
Pakistan faced a disappointing nine-wicket defeat to New Zealand in the tri-nation series match on Tuesday. After opting to bat, Pakistan could reach only 130/7 in 20 overs, as their opening duo of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan were dismissed cheaply; the side's middle-order was exposed again as it failed to step up, with Shan Masood (14), Shadab Khan (8), Iftikhar Ahmed (27) and Haider Ali (8) failing to make an impact. Asif Ali did score an unbeaten 25 off 20 deliveries, but it wasn't enough for Pakistan to post a strong score in the game.
In the end, the hosts chased down the target in 16.1 overs in Christchurch, with Finn Allen scoring 62 off 42 deliveries while Devon Conway remaining unbeaten on 49.
Following the game, former Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal tore into the Pakistan batting order, as he criticised the lack of effort from the middle-order. He also spoke in detail about Iftikhar Ahmed, who took 27 balls to score as many runs. Iftikhar had made a slow start to his innings in the game and had a strike rate throughout his knock.
Ajmal, commenting about the innings, said that Iftikhar started his innings like MS Dhoni but didn't end it the same way.
“Iftikhar MS Dhoni ki tarah khel raha hai par end me vo nahi kar paata jo MS karta tha ki pehle single le le, aur end pe aake chhakke maarke compensate kar liya. Iftikhar sahab start me 10 ball khaa jaate hain, Shan Masood 5-7 ball pehle aake khaa jaate hain. Saare batters aise hi ball khaate hain, fir recover karne ke liye hit maarte hain aur out hoke bahar chala jaata hai. (Iftikhar plays like MS Dhoni but couldn't end the innings like MS used to. (MS) used to take singles and hit sixes towards the end to compensate for them. Here, Iftikhar plays 10 dot balls, Shan Masood plays 5-7 dot balls, and when they try to recover by hitting big shots, they get out.),” Ajmal said on his official YouTube channel as he criticised the knock.
“27 ball pe 27 run banaaye hain aur last over me out ho jaate hain. Aap kidhar stand karte hain? (Iftikhar scored 27 runs off as many balls and he got out in the last over. Where do you stand?),” he further stated.
Pakistan's middle-order crisis deepened since the Asia Cup last month, and the concerns also came to fore during the seven-match T20I series against England, which Pakistan lost 3-4. The Babar Azam-led side will begin its T20 World Cup campaign against arch-rivals India on October 23.
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