Pakistan skipper Babar Azam refused to blame the DRS call Tabraiz Shamsi for their defeat against South Africa in the World Cup 2023.
Babar Azam opens on DRS call after the defeat against South Africa
Pakistan is scheduled to play in the 26th World Cup match against South Africa on October 27 at MA. Chidambaram Stadium. Winning the toss, Pakistan chose to bat where Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq opened the innings while Marco Jansen opened the bowling attack.
Shafique scored 9 runs while Imam-ul-Haq scored 12 runs and was sent out by Marco Jansen. Babar Azam was impressive as he scored 50 runs on 65 deliveries before being sent out by Shamsi. Gerald Coetzee dismissed Rizwan for 31 runs, while Iftikhar Ahmed and Saud Shakeel scored 31 and 21 runs respectively before being sent out by Shamsi.
Shadab Khan helped the side with 43 runs on 36 deliveries while Nawaz scored 24 runs. Shamsi dismissed four wickets while Marco Jansen dismissed three wickets. Gerald dismissed two wickets. By the end, Pakistan scored 270 runs losing all 10 wickets.
With a target of 271, Bavuma and Quinton de Kock opened the innings while Iftikhar Ahmed opened the bowling attack. Mohammad Wasim Jr was impressive as he dismissed Bavuma for 28 runs while Quinton was sent out with 24 runs by Shaheen Afridi. With the dismissal of Rassie van der Dussen for 21 runs, South Africa was down to three wickets and scored 121 runs.
Aiden Markram scored 91 runs helping the side to get back in the competition. Other batters were sent out at regular intervals. Shaheen Afridi dismissed three wickets while Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Jr, and Usama Mir dismissed two wickets each.
By the end, South Africa scored 271 runs on the 48th over and won the match with one wicket in hand. Tabraiz Shamsi was named as the Player of the Match.
Pakistan would have won the match if the umpire declared Shamsi out. When Babar Azam called out for DRS, the result came it was the umpire’s decision.
Shamsi was declared to be not out he survived the fifth wicket of Proteas to win along with Keshav Maharaj. Babar Azam was not upset by the DRS call as it was the system and it could either way.
While speaking after the match, he said, “We are very close, we did not finish well. Very disappointing for the whole team. We fought back very well. In the batting, we were 10-15 short.
The fast bowlers and spinners fought well but unfortunately, it was not to be. It is part of the game, in DRS it is part of the game. Had he given it out, it would have favored us.
We have an opportunity to win this and stay in the race but not to be. We will try our best in the next 3 matches put in our efforts and play for Pakistan. Let’s see where we will stand after that,” he concluded.
Pakistan will be playing their next match against Bangladesh on October 31 at Eden Gardens.
