‘Shocked’ Ramiz Raja criticises Pakistan’s super over strategy

Former Pakistan cricketer-turned-commentator Ramiz Raja was disappointed to see the Men in Green’s strategy in the super over against Zimbabwe, during Tuesday’s third one-day international (ODI) in Rawalpindi.

The actual match finished in a tie after tailender Musa Khan hit the final delivery of the 50th over from Richard Ngarava for a boundary to level the scores at 278.

But player of the match Muzarabani dismissed, who had bagged figures of 5/49, Iftikhar and Khushdil for two runs on four balls in the super over which Zimbabwe scored off just three balls without any loss.

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“The talent which was introduced during the super over was not right. Babar Azam, who had scored a century, would have been seeing the ball like a football and he should have come out to bat for the super over as well,” said Raja on his official YouTube channel. “The person who is in form should always be ready for the super over.”  

“Fakhar had not played in the previous two games — who would have been low on confidence and seemed rusty. Iftikhar did not have a good match and he is a middle-order batsman and Khushdil Shah was playing his first match,” he added. 

He also not impressed with the performance of the youngsters during the match.

“This was a shock for the entire [Pakistan cricket] system and it also reveals that the temperament of new players is not at the required level at the moment as they failed to live up to expectations at a challenging time,” he said.

Despite the defeat Pakistan won the three-match series 2-1.

The teams will now play three Twenty20 internationals on November 7, 8 and 10 — all in Rawalpindi.