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Former cricketer Basit Ali felt "betrayed" and questioned the brand of cricket that Pakistan exhibited during the second ODI in Hamilton against New Zealand. He slammed Mohammad Rizwan for his "poor captaincy" and took a dig at the Pakistan team before the final ODI, saying they should announce New Zealand victorious and return.
Pakistan's sharp decline in international cricket continued with another mediocre performance against New Zealand. The Men in Green kicked off the ODI leg on the back of a 4-1 hammering in the T20I series. With another defeat in the series opener, Pakistan had one final shot at salvaging something with a victory in the second ODI. However, even when the stakes were running high, it was a no-show from the touring party. They were at the receiving end of a relentless onslaught from Mitchell Hay in the first innings and then a scorching pace attack spearheaded by Ben Sears's five-wicket haul. Pakistan were down and out at 65/6, but an inspired counterattacking knock from Faheem Ashraf (73) and Naseem Shah (51) raised a faint glimmer of hope. Eventually, the constantly lingering scoreboard pressure and the bereft of wickets caused Pakistan to pack their bags on 208, succumbing to an emphatic 84-run defeat, giving away an unassailable 2-0 lead to the Kiwis. "Pakistan team has betrayed us. I don't know what era of cricket we are playing. Pakistan made a strong comeback after Mitchell's dismissal but poor captaincy. This is not a Pakistan team; that's all I can say," Basit said on his YouTube channel. Even though Pakistan enjoyed success with the ball in certain patches of the game, they hardly had a session of dominance with the bat. Out of the top-six batters, including Babar Azam (1), Abdullah Shafique (1), Salman Agha (9), Mohammad Rizwan (5) and Imam-ul-Haq (3), only Tayyab Tahir (13) was able to hit the double-digit mark. At the same time, the rest settled for a single-digit score. "The Bradmans from one to six were in single digits apart from Tayyab Tahir. I feel that instead of playing the third match, Pakistan should say, 'You win, so let us go back to our home; we are homesick.' This is New Zealand's C team. I am surprised Naseem Shah didn't play. Pakistan shouldn't have scored 200-plus; we should have packed at 140," he added. With the series out of their grasp, Pakistan will now look to end the three-match affair positively, set to be played at Bay Oval on Saturday. (ANI)
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