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Pakistan captain Babar Azam starred with the bat against India in the 2023 World Cup match at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Saturday (October 14).
The right-handed batter scored 50 runs off 58 balls, including seven boundaries. Azam also shared a crucial 82-run partnership with Mohammad Rizwan for the third wicket as Pakistan recovered from 73/2.
With his 50, Azam also returned to form after scoring just five and 10 runs against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka in the marquee ICC tournament, respectively.
The 28-year-old looked good with the bat but got out against the run of play. The dismissal took place in the 30th over. Mohammed Siraj bowled a good length delivery angled in. Azam looked to dab it towards the third man, but the ball skidded through sharply and hit the top of off-stump.
Fans on X (formerly Twitter) came up with mixed reactions to Babar Azam’s half-century against India in the World Cup fixture. One user wrote:
"I slept for 45 minutes after watching Babar Azam's batting. Most boring batsman of all time."
Here are some more reactions:
Babar Azam's wicket triggers middle-order collapse for Pakistan in 2023 World Cup match against India
India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to field first against Pakistan in the World Cup match on Saturday. The Men in Blue made a solitary change as Shubman Gill replaced Ishan Kishan in the playing XI. Pakistan, meanwhile, fielded the same XI after a six-wicket win over Sri Lanka.
Asked to bat, Abdullah Shafique (20 off 24) and Imam-ul-Haq (36 off 38) provided a promising start to Pakistan before Babar Azam and Mohammed Rizwan’s decent partnership.
Following Babar Azam's dismissal, Saud Shakeel (6 off 10) soon followed his skipper, trapped lbw by Kuldeep Yadav, who also bowled out Iftikhar Ahmed (run-a-ball 4). Meanwhile, Jaspit Bumrah cleaned up Mohammad Rizwan (49 off 69) and Shadab Khan (2 off 5).
At the time of writing, Pakistan were 171/7 after 35.2 overs with Mohammad Nawaz and Hasan Ali at the crease.
Follow IND vs PAK live coverage here.
