Few Can Do So Easily What Fakhar Zaman Can
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Fakhar Zaman played an outstanding knock vs NZ [AP]
Fakhar Zaman knows only one way to bat. And it's not to hit out of the park everything that comes his way. He begins by dislodging bowlers from their comfort zones, not long after which you see tense situations ease up a bit. Pakistan experienced this and earned from this a fine win just a few minutes back, and that too, over the BlackCaps.
In the process of doing what the left-hander does bravely, you see critics who still make names out of his first name disappearing into thin air, much like that piece of paper that none cares about when it's at the bottom of the ocean.
If there was actually one glaring evidence of the many that suggest Fakhar Zaman is a game changer and not some hard-hitting weirdo from some Hollywood action flick, then it was that over against Ish Sodhi. Sodhi, a legend for the Kiwis, albeit an underappreciated name of the game, tossed it up and gave it the spin.
Alas, the evening skies of the Chinnaswamy saw the white ball going in just one direction and one alone. The more it went into the stands, the more Pakistan stood the chance of walloping an opponent it met at Rawalpindi and Karachi earlier this year.
Rather interestingly - and the cricket fanboys who are just focused on the truly popular Fab Four- ought to be reminded a certain Fakhar Zaman was at it even in April 2023 when an unsuspecting BlackCaps attack ran into the batsman's bludgeoning willow.
The very man who made an unbeaten 126 off just 81 odd deliveries hammered the Kiwis on April 27 with a customary attacking and determined 117 (first one-dayer at Karachi).
It was an inning that came off merely 114 odd deliveries and had the striking similarity to another fantastic batsman and yet another underappreciated run-maker from the opposite camp who deserves more appreciation than comes his way.
In the very inning where Fakhar Zaman took his Pakistan over the line in chasing a not-too-easy 289 with nine deliveries to spare, there was Daryl Mitchell, who had made a gritty 113.
Interestingly, two of contemporary cricket's boldest run makers also featured in the World Cup game today at Bengaluru, with a familiar figure emerging on the right side of the result.
In some ways, it's even spectacularly unfair that rain arrived and played spoilsport for the New Zealand fans.
Who'd have wanted Pakistan to win it the way they did in the end with the Duckworth Lewis method, cricket's familiar demigods who impact the game without actually being around, having a say? Not sure Fakhar, a fierce spark of Pakistan cricket, would have wanted to win the game as it panned out.
Fakhar stole the show with his scintillating stroke play [AP]
But then, the way you can't control nature, you just can't control Fakhar Zaman when he gets going. And today, he just did. 11 sixes. Eight boundaries. Then there was the strike rate of 155, akin to a lanky skyscraper as if it were the length.
What more? How often does one see an imperious batting of the highest possible calibre where there are more sixes hit than fours?
Gayle would've been happy. Rohit would have had a good word or two about the knock. Ditto for Martin Guptill, maybe? Maybe not. Who cares?
Pakistan won. They won against a familiar opponent they've previously hammered, as shared this year, winning both the T20I as well as the ODI contests.
More importantly, a team that had to listen to the needles religious chants when a Babar or Rizwan came out to bat in earlier games saw fans back home chant Fakhar Zaman… Fakhar Zaman.
Here's to a batsman who doesn't care whether it's spin or pace he's up against, an earnest contributor to an often misunderstood Pakistan. Fanboys may forget the 126, but the purist probably never can and ditto for the BlackCaps' cricket fan.
 "Dev Tyagi")
