Afghanistan’s Noor Ahmad has opened up about his crucial dismissal of Babar Azam, revealing how a short, wide delivery helped him get the Pakistan captain during their match in Chennai.
Playing for Afghanistan for the first time in the World Cup, Noor scored three wickets in the historic victory over Pakistan. This included the valuable scalp of Babar, the match’s top scorer.
After the match, Noor told reporters that Pakistan’s quest to cross 300 points was over after he overtook Babar and dismissed him in the 42nd over.
Noor said he thought Babar was expecting a full ball and ended up bowling a wide and short ball. Babar reportedly tracked it and hit it straight at cover.
“I think it was over 40 overs back then.” 40 or 41, something like that. To my eyes, it looked as if he was waiting for me to give birth. I didn’t want him to give his full performance. Therefore (bowl-shaped, short and wide)”
Before the delivery, he bowled a long ball, then two short balls to the off-stump, followed by a third ball that was wide for Babar to hit.
Babar was relegated to short balls by spinners in two other World Cup matches, drawing similar balls into short midfield from Colin Ackermann and Adam Zampa against the Netherlands and Afghanistan.
In fact, Afghanistan introduced four spinners in their line-up, selecting Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan and Noor. Together they bowled 38 out of 50 overs, his second-highest bowling by a spinner in an innings in an ODI World Cup.
Pakistan finished with 282-7 after 50 overs, with Afghanistan finishing with eight wickets and one over remaining. This was her first win against Pakistan in ODIs and her third win, the only one in World Cup history.
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