Shahnawaz Dhani was at the receiving end of a brutal assault by Babar Azam as the former Pakistan captain smashed the 26-year-old pacer for five boundaries in an over during the Champions Cup match between Stallions and Markhors in Faisalabad on Sunday. Babar's efforts, however, went in vain as his team was bowled out for 105 in chase of 232. Babar top-scored with 45, hitting eight boundaries, five of which incidentally came off one over from Dahani.
Bowling the seventh over, Dahani ran in with all his might but had no clue what awaited him as Babar launched an all-out assault against his Pakistan teammate. Babar took him for 20 runs in the over, unleashing a flurry of boundaries – five in a row – to leave the pacer in disbelief. The first ball of the over was pitched short, with Babar using quick feet movement to jump into position in no time and play the short-arm pull with ease. Dahani pulled back his length the next ball, but since it was wide, Babar had enough time to late cut it behind for a second four in the over.
Dahani did not learn from his mistakes of the previous two balls and clubbed them into one. He bowled a delivery short and wide, as Babar latched onto it to play a full-blooded cut shot, a misfield at the boundary not helping Dahani's case. The fourth ball of the over was slightly better in length but nothing that Babar couldn't dispatch away with proper timing. The final ball was pitched short again, and Babar took full toll by playing a pull shot, making it five fours and 20 off the over.
Dahani was shaken and rattled, his eyes looking for an answer. Babar's assault had clearly gotten to his mind as skipper Mohammad Rizwan didn't give him another over for the rest of the innings. So much so that after the match got over, Dahani took to social media and posted the video of Babar going berserk against him, which copped him plenty of flak from the public.
{{/usCountry}}Dahani was shaken and rattled, his eyes looking for an answer. Babar's assault had clearly gotten to his mind as skipper Mohammad Rizwan didn't give him another over for the rest of the innings. So much so that after the match got over, Dahani took to social media and posted the video of Babar going berserk against him, which copped him plenty of flak from the public.
{{/usCountry}}"Just cannot stop watching this again & again. Don't think I would be able to sleep tonight. I just cannot understand, how Babar made it look so easy," Dahani shared.
But no sooner did it happen that fans jumped on the pacer to question his 'self-respect'. Not that there's any harm in admiring the efforts of your teammates on a public forum, but the fact that fans felt he was fan-boying over Babar rather than taking it with a pinch was salt was what irked them. What followed was a barrage of trolling and roasting.
Here are some of the replies:
The Champions Cup began on September 12 and after four matches, Markhors are at the top of the table with 27 points with 2 wins out of two, followed by Stallions at second. Panthers, Dolphins and Lions are placed 3rd, 4th and 5th respectively with 11, 0 and 0 points. Babar, with 121 runs in two innings, is the second-leading run-getter of the tournament behind Kamran Ghulam, who with 126 runs, in leading the charts.