Pakistan’s wicketkeeper-batter Azam Khan is often criticised for his fitness. But Azam has continued to impress whether it is behind the stumps or with the bat. In Pakistan's National T20 Cup final between Karachi Region Whites and Abbottabad Region, he took an exceptional catch to get his side an early breakthrough.
In Abbottabad's run chase, Shahnawaz Dahani got the wicket of Sajjad Ali with a short ball. Ali mistimed the pull shot. Azam sprinted outside the 30-yard circle, tumbled while taking the catch and rolled on the ground in follow-through. He called for the catch even though a fielder was moving towards the ball from the deep.
Ali could score just a single run from four overs as Abbottabad lost their first wicket for a score of seven. After the wicket, Dahani continued to bowl well and conceded just 16 runs from his quota of four overs. His other two wickets in the game were Khalid Usman and captain Yasir Shah. Atizaz Habib Khan's unbeaten 26-ball 43 and Fayyaz Khan's cameo of nine-ball 23 went in vain as Abbottabad managed to score 146/9 and lost the match by nine runs.
Earlier, Khurram Manzoor's half-century, Omair Yousuf's 31-ball 36, and Danish Aziz's cameo helped Karachi post 155/9 after Yasir won the toss and opted to field first. Shahab was the pick of the bowlers picking up a four-wicket haul.
Azam had a decent season in the domestic T20 tournament. The 25-year-old scored 307 runs from 12 innings at an average of 43.85 including one half-century. He scored at a strike rate of 156.63. He was Karachi's third-highest run-scorer in the tournament.
Earlier, Azam was in the news for displaying the Palestine flag on his bat. A 50 per cent match fee fine was imposed on him by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) which was later waived.
So far, Azam has played five T20Is. He has scored just seven runs from four innings. Former Pakistan captain Moin Khan's son was dropped from the T20I squad after the series against Afghanistan in March 2023.
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