Mohammad Nawaz is Pakistan’s unsung hero
Helped team have the last laugh in thriller against India in Super 4 tie
India and Pakistan played out another blockbuster yesterday which went to the wire at the ring of fire and this time it was Pakistan who had the last laugh by winning by five wickets with one ball to spare.
India who were put in to bat came out all guns blazing once they realized the ball was good to bat and put the Pakistan pace bowlers under the pump and had reached 46 in no time. Babar Azam bought in Mohammad Nawaz which immediately bought some sanity as Nawaz gave away just eight runs in his first over which made Rohit Sharma take a risk in the last over of the power play and lost his wicket.
In his third over, he got the big scalp of Suryakumar Yadav who is India’s 360-degree player and could take the game away from the opposition and by the time he finished his four overs he bought Pakistan back in the game going for just 25 runs.
Master stroke
But Nawaz was not done for the evening. Pakistan had lost Fakhar Zaman to Chahal and this is where Pakistan think tank played a master stroke by sending him to bat at number four to have the left right combination going and most importantly to negate the threat of India’s two leg spinners. He started with a delicate cut which got him his first boundary and from there on there was no stopping Nawaz who took the attack to the opposition. When he came in to bat Pakistan required 119 runs in 68 balls at more than 10.50 runs per over and by the time he got out Pakistan needed just 46 off 27 balls with seven wickets in hand. He took a special liking to Chahal whom he never allowed to settle and his quick fire 42 off just 20 balls changed the momentum of the game in Pakistan’s favour.
In the post-match he said that as youngsters you want to play some impactful knocks in pressure games which gives massive confidence to any player and helps him in his growth. He signed off by saying that he was feeling the pressure which was positive and not negative and he knew he could do it and that’s what he did for his team Pakistan.
I have known Mohamed Nawaz for a long time and he is a softly spoken player and does not like to hog the limelight but for sure he had all the lights of the ring of fire shining at him on Sunday.