Pakistan lost arguably the most thrilling match of the ODI World Cup 2023 as they allowed South Africa to win by one wicket on October 27 in Chennai. Chasing 271, South Africa were cruising along at 235/5 in 37th over before Pak bowlers hit back to bring them down to 260/9 at 45.3 over mark. Keshav Maharaj, however, held his nerve along with Tabraiz Shamsi and hit Mohammad Nawaz for a four to guide Proteas home in their first chase of the tournament.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Pakistan skipper Babar Azam was very disappointed with the loss and rightfully so as the Men in Green now only are mathematically in the race of semifinals. It was Pakistan’s batting which faltered once again and Babar agreed that they were a few runs short.
“Very disappointing, we fought back well but we were 10-15 runs short. I think the way fast bowlers bowled, they did well but unfortunately the result was not on our side,” said Babar after that match.
There was a moment in the game when Haris Rauf almost trapped Shamsi LBW for the last wicket but only for DRS to rule not out on umpire’s call. Babar, however, said: “It’s part of the game, this is umpire’s call so I think it’s just part of the game,”
With Pakistan’s hopes all but over after losing four consecutive games – for the first time in ODI World Cup history for them, Babar conceded that they missed the chance to stay in the tournament.
“It’s disappointing everyone, we had the opportunity to win this match and stay in the tournament but we missed it. We will try our best in our next three matches and put our effort so let’s see where we stand after the three matches,” said the dejected Pak skipper.
With four points after two wins and four losses, Pakistan are now at sixth place on the points table. Their next three ODI World Cup games are against Bangladesh, New Zealand, and England.
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