Babar Azam defends out of form Shadab Khan

Pakistan cricket team captain Babar Azam has continued to defend out of form all-rounder Shadab Khan who had a miserable outing in second T20I vs England.

Shadab Khan conceded 55 runs in four overs without taking a single wicket. This was Shadab’s worst bowling figures in T20I cricket.

Today was just the third time Shadab conceded 50+ runs in T20I cricket while two of them came in May 2024. He conceded 54 runs in four overs during the first T20I against Ireland which was held in Dublin on May 10.

Meanwhile, Babar is hoping that Shadab will return with a strong performance as the bad days do come on a player.

“Bad days sometimes come (on a player). The type of player Shadab is, we know he’s one of our best players in batting, bowling and especially in fielding. He will make a comeback,” Babar said after the game.

Meanwhile Fakhar Zaman starred for Pakistan in a losing cause as the left-handed batter played an explosive knock of 45 runs off 21 balls with the help of three fours and five sixes. Skipper Babar Azam scored 32 runs on 26 balls as he was the second-highest run-getter.

Meanwhile, down the order, Iftikhar Ahmed (23 off 17) and Imad Wasim (22 off 13) provided crucial runs but they weren’t enough to propel Pakistan to victory.

For England, Reece Topley picked three wickets. Moeen Ali and Jofra Archer bagged two each while Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid and Liam Livingstone picked one.

Earlier, Jos Buttler played a captain’s knock and scored 84 runs on 51 balls with the help of eight fours and three sixes. During the process, he also completed 3,000 runs in T20I cricket, becoming only the ninth player in the shorter format to do so.