by: Atika Mehboob TN Sport Pakistan:
What was otherwise a forgettable day for Pakistan bowlers against the Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra, one moment provided the visitors with amusement. The bowling attack struggled to send the set Matt Renshaw home, who was slowly and steadily, cutting the deficit short. Although Faheem Ashraf did send his partner Cameron Green back to the hut with a sneaky nip that landed the ball in Sarfaraz Ahmed’s gloves, the next batter in and the skipper of the PMXI, Nathan McSweeney started rebuilding the partnership with Renshaw.
Frustrated Pakistan Skipper, Shan Masood, handed the ball to the team’s opener and specialist batter, Imam ul Haq. What Imam or for that matter any of his teammates did not know, was that a light-hearted moment was about to unfold. The left-handed opener bowled a back-of-length ball which was pulled awkwardly by McSweeney and went straight to Mir Hamza at mid-wicket. As much as it was a relief for the team, they could not control their waves of laughter at Imam’s first triumph with the ball.
No further wicket fell after this miraculous one and Matt Renshaw held his ground with Beau Webster to truncate the trail to only 24 runs by the end of the day. The last and final day of the practice match will resume with PMXI standing at 367-4. The visitors will then travel to Perth to play their first Test match of the Australian summer against the Kangaroos. It merits mention here that Pakistan currently sits at the top of the ICC WTC 2023-2025 standings table.
