Courtesy: X
Saim Ayub, the Pakistan opening batter, got dismissed for a golden duck on his return to international cricket during their 1st T20I of the three-match series at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. The left-handed batter, who turned 23 years of age just last week, was sidelined from cricket for the last few months after twisting his ankle during a Test match against South Africa at the Newlands in Cape Town at the start of 2025.
After Pakistan captain Salman Agha won the toss and decided to bat first, Saim Ayub got to face his first ball on international return in the first over of the team’s innings. Mahedi Hasan, the right-arm off spinner, bowled a shorter length delivery towards the stumps, on which Saim Ayub tried to play a flick shot, but it came slowly off the pitch, leading to a top edge before the ball spooned in the air towards the bowler, who took a simple catch.
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Saim Ayub couldn’t believe his luck at all before he walked back to the pavilion with a golden duck to his name. Shortly after, his opening partner Fakhar Zaman didn’t stay in the middle for much longer, getting trapped in front of the stumps by Shoriful Islam for one-run in four balls in the second over of the Pakistan innings, putting them in all sorts of early trouble.
Pakistan captain Salman Agha scores sparkling fifty to bring them back into the match
Following that, Mohammad Haris took Pakistan out of troubled waters with a fluent 31 off 18 with four fours and one maximum before captain Salman Agha took charge of the team’s innings alongside Hasan Nawar. The fourth wicket stand of 65 runs between Agha and Nawaz brought Pakistan firmly back into the contest as the Bangladesh bowlers were put under pressure by them with a flurry of boundaries.
Salman Agha (56 off 34) and Hasan Nawaz (44 off 22) were dismissed in quick succession, leaving Pakistan 139/5 in the 14th over, but they have enough firepower still left in the shed to post a substantial total on the board for Bangladesh batters to chase down later on.
