Pakistan captain Babar Azam and Player of the Match Fakhar Zaman have opened up after the Men in Green defeated New Zealand by 21 (DLS method) runs in the 35th match of the ICC World Cup 2023 at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, India.
The match was stopped due to rain while the Green Shirts were batting at 200-1 in 25.3 overs with Fakhar Zaman (126*) and skipper Babar Azam (66*) still on the crease.
Courtesy of a blistering batting display by Fakhar, Pakistan were 21 runs ahead on the DLS score after 25.3 overs and emerged victorious.
The 194-run partnership between Azam and Fakhar propelled the Green Shirts to an essential win as they now prepare to take on the struggling England team at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata, on November 11.
Babar Azam, after the game, said that they planned to build a partnership and decided to give strike to Fakhar.
"When we started batting, we believed (in ourselves). Inside the dressing room, we passed the message that we need one good partnership. Back of the mind, we knew rain was coming, but didn't expect it to be too much," Babar stated.
"We knew we had short boundaries and we tried to utilise it. We were trying to give 100 % but in some matches we were not up to the mark. If we win our next match, let's see...we will try to play positively and we are going match by match," he maintained
Meanwhile, Fakhar Zaman said that he enjoyed the knock, emphasising the team management had decided to bat with intent.
"We planned to see off first few overs, few times I got lucky and really enjoyed this innings. We know that every game is do or die for us. In a team meeting, our management decided that we would play aggressively so we are playing with that mind and everybody was trying to score more runs," he added.
"This is one of my best (century), I will always remember my 193 against South Africa but this is one of my best. (on World Cup hopes) we were also praying for (no resumption). We want to continue playing aggressively in our next game," he concluded.
Remember, Fakhar also scored the fastest century (63 balls) for Pakistan in a World Cup match overtaking former cricketer Imran Nazir who did it in 95 balls against Zimbabwe in the 2007 World Cup.
The 33-year-old hit 11 sixes in the process, becoming the only fourth batter to score ten or more sixes in the history of the World Cup.