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Babar Azam became the first Pakistani batter to be dismissed in the T20 World Cup 2021 as New Zealand's Tim Southee tumbled his middle stump with a peach of a delivery on Tuesday. The Kiwi pacer also achieved the milestone of taking 100 T20I wickets in the process, becoming the first from his country to do so.
The wicket fell on the first ball of the sixth over of Pakistan's chase. Babar Azam was batting at 9 off 10 deliveries and Tim Southee doled out a witty off-cutter. The right-handed batter stayed back at his crease and tried to heave it over mid-wicket. The ball was full and kept low due to the lack of pace and cleanly sneaked past his bat to hit the furniture.
You can watch a clip of the wicket here:
Babar Azam's wicket left Pakistan reeling at 28-1 while chasing New Zealand's 134-8. The skipper and his opening partner Mohammad Rizwan came into the match after a match-winning unbeaten partnership against India.
But the New Zealand bowlers' tight lines and the slowness in the Sharjah pitch didn't allow them to get going quickly. As pressure was building from both ends, Babar Azam perished while trying to make full use of the powerplay overs.
Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner strike after Babar Azam's wicket, Pakistan in trouble
While New Zealand's highest wicket-taker in T20Is provided them the first breakthrough, the second in that list, Ish Sodhi, took the scalp of Fakhar Zaman.
Zaman replaced Babar Azam at the crease and struggled to get going immediately. He got a ball in the slot from Sodhi in the ninth over and punished it for six. But the leg-spinner got his revenge just three balls later, outfoxing the batter with a quick leg-break.
Mohammad Hafeez came in after Zaman's wicket and went back in a similar fashion. He too hit a six against Jimmy Neesham, but had to head back trying to hit another one against Mitchell Santner in the 11th over as Devon Conway completed a stunning catch running left of long-off.
Pakistan's batting was reduced to 63-3 after this wicket, with the Men in Green's untested middle order looking ahead to a probing few overs.
