Netizens took to social media to praise Pakistan’s top order batsman Fakhar Zaman as he helped ground staff put on covers as the rain interrupted the Super 4 match between arch-rivals India and Pakistan being played in Colombo on Sunday (today).
The game interrupted in the 25th over due to a heavy downpour, saw the ground staff rushed to put on the covers.
A short video clip which has since gone viral on social media, shows Fakhar Zaman lending a helping hand to the ground staff in covering the pitch.
The left-handed batsman can be seen holding the covers and running alongside the ground staff.
This little gesture has garnered praise from netizens on social media.
“Fakhar Zaman helped the ground staff to cover the ground. Nice gesture from Fakhar Zaman,” a user named Wasim Akram wrote on his X — formerly known as Twitter — account.
“A helping hand for the ground staff from Fakhar Zaman,” wrote the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) official X handle.
Another user taking a jibe at the bad weather conditions in Sri Lanka adopted a much more sarcastic tone and wrote, “Pakistani players are now at par with the training of the ground staff in the last three months [due to persistent rains]… We haven’t experienced this much monsoon in Pakistan in the last ten years as compared to what we’ve seen here [Sri Lanka].”
Another social media user Shaharyar wrote, “Our Players are very humble”.
Meanwhile, another user called Zaman an “amazing human being”.
“Best moment” — “hero of the match”, another X user said while praising the left-handed batsman for his courteous gesture.
Earlier in the day, Pakistan won the toss and opted to bowl in the high-voltage Asia Cup 2023 Super 4 clash with India in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Pakistan have fielded an unchanged playing XI for this high-voltage clash. Meanwhile, India made two changes with one of them being forced after Shreyas Iyer picked up a spasm in the back moments before the toss and will be replaced by KL Rahul. Jasprit Bumrah has also replaced Mohammad Shami in India’s lineup.
The arch-rivals resumed their clash after rain washed out their previous game in Pallekele. On that occasion, India were dismissed for 266 in 48.5 overs. Pakistan — who are currently at the top of the points table — could not begin their chase because of the weather.
Playing XIs
Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Imam-ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Rizwan, Agha Salman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf.
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
