Rahul Tiwari
khelja|08-07-2024
Babar Azam's team may or may not make a splash, but the brilliance of Pakistan's retired players is definitely visible. In the World Championship of Legends, Pakistan Champions are riding the chariot of victory. They have played 4 matches so far and have won all of them. After seeing their performance in these 4 matches, it now seems as if it is difficult to defeat them. In every match, a new player is becoming a hero. Someone else is performing. In WCL, Pakistan Champions have written the script of their fourth victory by defeating England Champions.
In the match played on 7th July at Edgbaston ground, Pakistan Champions first batted strongly against England Champions. Then with tight bowling, they defended their runs in a great manner. Looking at the game of England Champions, it never seemed as if they were giving tough competition to Pakistan Champions in the match. Pakistan Champions defeated England Champions by 79 runs, whose hero was Shoaib Malik who showed his talent with both ball and bat.
Batting first, Pakistan's team scored 196 runs for 4 wickets in 20 overs. Sharjeel Khan, who was the hero of the victory against India Champions, could not do anything special against England Champions. He could score just 13 runs. But, two Shoaibs of Pakistan Champions became the nemesis for England Champions. Be it Shoaib Maqsood or Shoaib Malik, both together thrashed England's bowlers. And, whatever was left was completed by Misbah and Razzaq with their short but explosive innings.
Shoaib Malik scored 51 runs in just 4 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes at a strike rate of 154.55. Shoaib Maqsood hit 64 runs in 44 balls at a strike rate of 145.45. His innings included 6 sixes and 2 fours. Misbah remained unbeaten on 23 runs in 14 balls and Abdul Razzaq remained unbeaten on 20 runs in just 9 balls. Stuart Meaker was the most successful bowler for England, who took 2 wickets for 25 runs in 3 overs.
Now England Champions had a big target of 197 runs. This target seemed difficult for England in front of the huge bowling line-up of Pakistan Champions. And, this is what happened. They could not chase it. England Champions could not even play the full 20 overs and were all out after scoring 117 runs in just 17 overs.
Saeed Ajmal was the most successful bowler from Pakistan Champions side, who took 3 wickets for 12 runs in 3 overs. Shoaib Malik, who scored a stormy half-century with the bat, took 1 wicket for 18 runs in 2 overs with the ball. Shoaib Malik was chosen as the Player of the Match for his performance with both bat and ball.