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Pakistan have succeeded in ending their 1,169-ball long streak of not hitting a sixer during the first powerplay in one-day internationals (ODIs) this year.
The Men in Green accomplished this during their ICC Cricket World Cup match against Afghanistan at Chennai on Monday. In the third ball of the team's fifth over, Abdullah Shafique smashed Naveen-ul-Haq for a six. He hit another six later to make it two sixes during the first ten overs. This year Pakistan has faced 1,202 balls in the first powerplay and scored 945 runs across 20 innings. Of these, 789 balls faced by Pakistan were dot balls, which shows that they did not score on over 65 per cent of balls in this phase of the match. Pakistan batters smashed 131 fours and two sixes in the first powerplay this year. In all, Pakistan scored 536 out of their 945 runs through fours and sixes, with only 12 runs scored while the aerial route. Coming to the match, Pakistan elected to bat first and posted 282/7 in their 50 overs. Half-centuries from Babar (74 in 92 balls with four boundaries and a six) and Abdullah (58 in 75 balls with five fours and two sixes) were the highlights of Pakistan's innings. In the end, knocks of 40 runs each from Iftikhar Ahmed and Shadab Khan took Pakistan to a competitive total. Noor (3/49) was the pick of the bowlers for Afghanistan. Naveen-ul-Haq got two wickets while Mohammed Nabi and Azmatullah Omarzai got one wicket. (ANI)
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