Babar Azam vs Shaheen Afridi: Pakistan Pacer Strikes Iconic Pose in Titan Clash at Champions One-day Cup: WATCH

Pakistan Cricket’s biggest names were up against each other with the likes of Babar Azam and Shaheen Shah Afridi going up against each other in the Champions One-Day Cup tournament on Friday.

The ace batter has been under the spotlight as he has been on a downward spiral in terms of his batting form having a disastrous outing in the recently concluded Test series against Bangladesh that took place in Rawalpindi recently.

Nonetheless, the 29-year-old representing the Stallions was able to find his groove with the bat as he struck a half-century against the Lions.

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But the contest between Azam and Afridi heated up as the two star players went strong. Azam batting at 76 in 78 deliveries looked to pull a shorter delivery away towards the deep square leg region, but as a result of his shot being mistimed, he was dismissed after a catch by Faisal Akram in the deep.

Shaheen after taking the wicket, showcased his iconic pose that the Afridi’s have been famous for, celebrating the massive dismissal.

But Azam had the last laugh as the Stallions went on to take the win by a massive margin of 133 runs and also win the player-of-the-match award. The Lions’ batting unit was not able to come through. Imam-ul-Haq who opened the batting was the only decent performer in the side having scored a valiant 78 in 83 balls.

Pakistan cricket management will hope that the tournament will help bring further clarity to improve their squad across all formats. The defeat against Bangladesh was a new low for the national side as it was the first series defeat at the hands of their next-door neighbours in the longest format of the game.

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Azam will in all certainty feature for the Stallions in their next game which is up against Markhors tomorrow, taking place in Faisalabad.