Watch: Mohammad Nabi took the catch to dismiss Fakhar Zaman at first slip after it rebounded off the hands of the fielder at second slip. He then pretended to hit him for potentially dropping the catch in the first ODI between Afghanistan and Pakistan today (August 22).
Afghanistan are the official hosts of the three-match ODI series against Pakistan that is being played in Sri Lanka. Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first in the first ODI and got off to a terrible start.
Fakhar has not been in great form lately: he scored only 156 runs at 22.3 from seven matches in the recently concluded Lanka Premier League. Here, he perished in the first over of the innings to left-arm quick Fazalhaq Farooqi.
Farooqi aimed at Fakhar’s stumps for the first half of the over before enticing him for a drive by bowling an out-swinging half-volley well outside off. Fakhar fell for the trap and went at it without reaching anywhere close to the ball.
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He only managed to get a thick edge to second slip, where Rahmat Shah made a meal of it. The ball ricocheted off Rahmat’s hands but, fortunately for Afghanistan, lobbed straight up to Nabi who was standing at first slip.
Nabi took the catch comfortably, before staring angrily at Rahmat and pretended to throw the ball at him for potentially dropping an easy catch.
The incident reminded viewers of Mushfiqur Rahim’s similar act of aggression towards his own teammate after there had been confusion while calling for a catch in a Bangabandhu T20 Cup knockout game in 2020.
After Zaman was dismissed, Mujeeb Ur Rahman trapped both Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan in front of the wicket in his first spell to leave Pakistan at 46-3 after 10 overs.
Watch Nabi catch a rebound off second slip and pretend to throw the ball at him in anger:
Early Success with the ball for Afghanistan! 🤩
Fazal Haq Farooqi strikes as he removed Fakhar Zaman for 2 to give Afghanistan an excellent start into the series. 👏
🇵🇰: 3/1 (0.4 Overs)#AfghanAtalan | #AFGvPAK | #SuperColaCup | #ByaMaidanGato pic.twitter.com/BBxgGAZiwV
— Afghanistan Cricket Board (@ACBofficials) August 22, 2023