Pakistan will meet Sri Lanka on Sunday evening for the second of a three-match Twenty20 international series, where the Green Shirts will look to take an unassailable 2-0 lead and seal the series.
asserted
Shirts → meet → series
Pakistan’s standout performers, Maaz Sadaqat and skipper Sahibzada Farhan will look to replicate their respective strong outings from Friday, with both declaring their commitment to playing their natural game in a way that the modern format demands.
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format → look → that
In the post-match press conference after the first match on Friday, top-order batter Maaz said that he planned on backing his natural game and play the way he has been playing,
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he → say → way
Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by four wickets, accomplished with a largely untroubled chase of the 183-run target which they achieved with seven balls remaining, despite a cluster of wickets falling at the toe-end of the innings.
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cluster → beat → innings
“It was my first 50 so I am very happy,” said Maaz, who scored a maiden, blistering T20 international half-century off 26 balls at one-drop.
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who → say → drop
“The plan for upcoming matches is to play the way I have been playing and back it.”
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I → play → it
Maaz’s rich vein of form can be traced back to last month’s Caribbean Premiere League (CPL), where he scored 363 runs in seven matches at a strike rate of almost 175.
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he → trace → 175
His campaign also included two centuries, one of which came in the competition’s final.
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one → include → final
In the second match of the series, Maaz can potentially cement his spot in the side further.
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Maaz → cement → side
It could also be interesting to note whether Maaz remains at one-drop, or if Pakistan want to test him as an opener.
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Pakistan → note → opener
Maaz himself believes the two positions are interchangeable, which he said whilst answering a question about whether taking over the position Babar Azam normally played in was a source of extra pressure.
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Azam → believe → pressure
“I am comfortable in this position, but for Pakistan I am prepared to bat at any position,” he said.
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he → prepare → position
Farhan, too, backed Maaz.
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Farhan → back → Maaz
“I think, the sort of form Maaz is in, he is one of the best players,” he said after the first match.
“I told him to take advantage of his current form,” he said, adding that he was “very happy” as his captain.
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he → think → captain
“Today I told him, now that you have the opportunity, you should complete your 50.
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you → tell → 50
If you complete your 5o, we can finish this match three or four overs earlier,” Farhan later told the broadcaster in the post-match show.
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Farhan → complete → show
The skipper was named player of the match himself for his 53-ball-89, in his third match as T20I captain following the two matches that were part of the team’s silver-winning Asian Games campaign.
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that → name → campaign
He added that he had changed the way he played over the last year to strike at at least 150-160 instead of the lower strike rates he used to record before, because such is the demand of the modern game.
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such → add → game
Echoing Maaz’s sentiment, he added that he will continue to bat the way he has been batting and not change it as long as the game demanded it, “whether I am captain or not.”
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I → echo → it
It provides an opportunity for the management and the new skipper to further assess team combinations and line-ups.
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management → provide → combinations
“It would be a lie to say there is no pressure, because when you are representing your country, people have expectations from you,” the captain said.
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captain → say → you
(In T20s) I think three or four boys perform and it is enough to turn the tables in a match.”
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it → think → match
“If you look at it, we have Arafat Minhas as a backup.
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we → look → backup
We have Abdul Samad, Sufiyan Muqeem.
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We → have → Samad
So, our back-up strength is very strong,” he said, adding that this bench strength also meant that the playing combinations were not fixed and that they could always experiment and change in upcoming matches.
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they → say → matches
Whether Pakistan chooses to actually test the strength of its bench could be another interesting element to look out for, going into this second match.
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chooses → choose → match
All of them have made a case for themselves: Arafat bowled a disciplined spell of 2-23 in three overs in the Asian Games semi-final.
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Arafat → make → final
And though not in the same format, he has already starred in the greens, picking up a Player of the Series award in his debut One-day International series against Australia earlier this year.
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he → star → Australia
Abdul Samad’s clinical 15-ball-30 against Bangladesh played a starring role in the team reaching the gold-medal match in the Asian Games.
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team → play → Games
And while Sufiyan’s returns against India were not entirely prodigal, he is still coming off the back of a T20 season that saw him named Player of the Tournament in Peshawar Zalmi’s Pakistan Super League title-winning run and, more recently, be named Player of the Final in the CPL for a record spell of 4-14.
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him → come → 4
Pakistan’s previous T20 sides were often criticised for not using bilateral fixtures to amply experiment and give match time to young players, focusing too much on the results as opposed to the long-term process.
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sides → criticise → process
Maaz, for example, was asked in the press conference whether Shadab Khan was occupying a space that could potentially have gone to a younger player (to which his response was simple: “He was selected on merit.”)
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He → ask → merit
Whether Pakistan seek to play a fresher XI tonight, or chooses to not fix what was not broken in the first match, remains to be seen.
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what → seek → match
The Aporia
