“Nothing Special”: Shaheen Afridi’s Bold Declaration After Maiden Win As Pakistan’s ODI Captain

A couple of brilliant half-centuries from Salman Agha and Mohammad Rizwan guided Pakistan to a two-wicket win against South Africa in the first ODI of the three-match series. The match also marked the beginning of a new captaincy reign for Pakistan, under Shaheen Afridi, who replaced Rizwan at the helm ahead of the start of the series. Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, Shaheen displayed his composed side, brushing aside the pressure of captaincy. 

“Was a normal game for me. Nothing special,” the newly-appointed skipper said after the match on Tuesday. “Credit to our batters. The way it turned and swung in second innings, they handled it really well. Batted really well on tough surface. That always happens (late drama). Will try it doesn’t happen again. Thank you to the crowd, international cricket is happening after a long time here and they came in big numbers.”

Agha scored 62 runs off 71 balls, which was laced with five boundaries and one maximum, whereas Rizwan played a 55-run knock from 74 balls, coming with the help of six fours in his innings.

With this victory in the first match of the series, the Pakistan Cricket Team take a 1-0 lead over South Africa in the three-match ODI series. The second match of the series will be played at the same venue, Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad, on Thursday, November 6.

Chasing a target of 264 against the Proteas in the season opener, the Men in Green finished the game in 49.4 overs with two wickets in hand. Other than Agha and Rizwan, the players who registered their names among the runs were Fakhar Zaman (45 runs off 57 balls), Saim Ayub (39 runs from 42 balls), and Hussain Talat (22 runs in 25 balls).

For the visitors, two wickets each were scalped by Lungi Ngidi (2/46 in 9 overs), Donovan Ferreira (2/53 in 9 overs), Corbin Bosch (2/32 in 6.4 overs), and one wicket each was bagged by George Linde (1/49 in 8 overs) and Bjorn Fortuin (1/38 in 10 overs) in their respective bowling spells.

Earlier in the first innings, batting first, the visitors managed to score 263 runs as the Shaheen Shah Afridi-led side bowled them out in the final over of the innings.

The top run-getters for the South African team were wicketkeeper-batter Quinton de Kock (63 runs off 71 balls), opener Lhuan-dre Pretorious (57 runs from 60 balls), team captain Breetzke (42 runs in 54 balls), and all-rounder Corbin Bosch (41 runs off 40 balls).

For the Pakistan team, three wickets each were snapped by Naseem Shah (3/40 in 9.1 overs) and Abrar Ahmed (3/53 in 9 overs), whereas two wickets were taken by Saim Ayub (2/39 in 8 overs). Also, one wicket each was grabbed by Shaheen Afridi (1/55 in 10 overs) and Mohammad Nawaz (1/45 in 10 overs) in their respective spells in the game.

With ANI Inputs

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