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Fans across sports try to collect souvenirs when they go to the stadium to watch the match. They hope for a signature from their favourite player or an item of their clothing. But a fan in New Zealand took it one step further when Fakhar Zaman hit a massive six that went outside Seddon Park, Hamilton during the second T20I on January 14.
On the last ball of the powerplay overs bowled by Ben Sears, Zaman played a pick-up shot and the ball went over backward square leg boundary for a six. The ball went outside the ground and on the road. A fan ran towards the ball, picked it up, and ran away. As a result, the on-field umpires had to call for a replacement ball.
It was Zaman's third six of the innings. He had to walk out early as Pakistan lost both their openers Saim Ayub and Mohammad Rizwan in the first two overs of the run chase. The big-hitter got a reprieve early on the innings when he was yet to get off the mark. Sears dropped a straightforward catch at short fine leg off Adam Milne's bowling.
Zaman made the dropped catch count. He hit Mitchell Santner for two consecutive sixes in the fifth over. He did it against leg-spinner Ish Sodhi as well. In the 10th over, he reached his half-century with two consecutive fours. But Milne had the last laugh as he got rid of him with a short-pitched delivery. The 33-year-old departed after scoring 50 runs from 25 balls.
When Zaman departed, Pakistan were 97/3 in the run chase of 195. However, despite Babar Azam's half-century, the visitors failed to get near the target and were bowled out for 173.
Zaman has been batting at no.4 in the series as Ayub has been promoted as opener and Babar is batting at no.3. In the previous encounter, he managed to score 15 runs from 10 balls.
Before the T20I series, the 33-year-old had made it clear that he is willing to bat anywhere as long as he is in the team. He will have another chance in the must-win encounter on January 17.
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