Right-handed opener Abdullah Shafique has entered the Babar Azam-led side with a breath of fresh air and seems to be infusing a radiance into the team. His inclusion has brought a sense of balance at the top of the order and Pakistan are now breathing easily as far as their opening combination is concerned.
Significantly, Shafique has also put an end to a seemingly unending drought that had brought a lot of criticism Pakistan's way. He hit Pakistan's first six in ODIs in the powerplay overs in 2023 when he executed a pull shot to perfection against Afghanistan's Naveen-ul-Haq on the third delivery of the fifth over.
Naveen tried to bump Abdullah but the ball could only rise shoulder-high and the Pakistan batter was quick to pounce on it and hammered it over the deep square leg fence to bring the first six for Pakistan in ODIs in 2023.
He didn't really stop there and hit another maximum in the eighth over of the game. This time around he targetted Mujeeb Ur Rahman. Shafique came dancing down the track and executed an inside-out lofted drive over mid-off to hit his second six of the match.
Shafique is in a rich vein of form in the ongoing World Cup in India. He has scored two fifties and a century already and is looking to get more runs under his belt in the forthcoming contests. The 23-year-old got off to a scintillating start in the World Cup as he smashed a match-winning century in his very first match while playing against Sri Lanka at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad.
Though he couldn't make the most of the opportunity that came his way against India at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad next and got out after just scoring 20 runs, he pulled things back dramatically and scored 64 against the Aussies in Bengaluru.
