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The former Pakistan captain Babar Azam dropped an easy catch of the New Zealand batter Kane Williamson during the first T20I of the five-match series at Eden Park in Auckland. The drop from Babar Azam proved to be quite costly as Kane Williamson scored a very impressive fifty to help New Zealand post a massive score of 226/8 on the board.
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During the fifth over of the New Zealand innings, when Kane Williamson was 9 off 11, he miscued a good length ball off the debutant Abbas Afridi towards the deep long-on boundary. Babar Azam was able to settle himself under the ball but somehow it burst through his hands while trying to complete the catch, giving early life to Kane Williamson.
Watch Babar Azam drop an easy catch of Kane Williamson here:
Shortly afterwards, Kane Williamson stitched together a third-wicket partnership of 78 runs with Daryl Mitchell to put New Zealand in a strong position to get a big total on the board. After Williamson and Mitchell completed their respective fifties, the rest of the New Zealand batting lineup kept attacking the Pakistan bowlers to propel their total way above 200.
Here are some of the reactions to the drop catch of Babar Azam:
Despite the three-wicket hauls of the debutant Abbas Afridi and Shaheen Afridi, the rest of the bowling lineup of Pakistan were unable to hit their straps during the first match of the tour. The batting lineup of Men in Green has a tough task at hand to chase down a total of 227 but the short straight boundaries at Eden Park could keep them in the game if partnerships are built early in the innings.
