Shahnawaz Dahani is often criticized by fans for his social media comments and his over-the-top celebrations, however, this time he is under fire for fan-boying Babar Azam.
Dahani, who is playing for Markhors in the Champions One-Day Cup, was destroyed by Babar Azam in his only over in yesterday’s game.
Let’s break down what happened and why Dahani’s reaction to the incident got the cricketing world talking.
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Babar Azam Shows His Masterclass
It all went down during the 8th over of the match. Dahani, known for his pace and energy, came on to bowl his first over. It started well enough with a dot ball, but what followed was a masterclass in batting.
Babar Azam, always quick on his feet, effortlessly played a short-arm pull for the first four. The next ball was slightly wide, and Babar latched onto it with a perfectly executed late cut. Two balls, two boundaries. The third was short and wide again, and this time a powerful cut shot flew past a misfield, making it three fours in a row.
By now, Dahani was visibly rattled. He tried to correct his length with the fourth ball, but it wasn’t enough to stop Babar, who dispatched it with ease. And just when you thought things couldn’t get worse, the final ball of the over was again pitched short.
Babar didn’t miss out, pulling it for the fifth four of the over. Twenty runs in six balls. Dahani, shaken, was taken off after that over, never to return for the rest of the innings.
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Shahnawaz Dahani’s Reaction
After the match, Shahnawaz Dahani took to his official X (formerly Twitter) account and shared the video of Babar Azam’s five boundaries, with the caption, “Just cannot stop watching this again & again. Don’t think I would be able to sleep tonight. I just cannot understand how Babar made it look so easy.”
Some fans appreciated Dahani’s sportsmanship and his willingness to admire Babar’s genius, others weren’t so kind. They questioned his ‘self-respect,’ suggesting that he was ‘fanboying’ over Babar instead of showing some competitive grit. The backlash prompted the bowler to later delete his post.
Talking about the match, despite Babar’s stellar performance in that over, his team, the Stallions, couldn’t pull off the win. Chasing 232, the team crumbled for just 105, with Babar top-scoring with 45.
Even though Babar’s efforts were in vain, his brief blitz against Dahani will be replayed over and over, much like Dahani himself has been doing on social media.
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