Pakistan Now The 'Worst' Fielding Side Among 41 Teams. Stats Reveal Concerning Trend

A sloppy show in the outfield handed Pakistan their first defeat of the ongoing tri-series, going down by 18 runs against Afghanistan in Sharjah on Tuesday. According to Cricbuzz, Pakistan have dropped 48 catches, missed 98 run outs, and misfield 89 times since the start of 2024. They top two of the above parameters among the 41 teams during the same period, and are second on misfields after West Indies (90). It is also worth noting that Pakistan have played the most matches in this timeframe, their catching efficiency of 81.4% ranks joint 8th (alongside Ireland) among the 12 full-member teams.

Recently, pacer Haris Rauf lashed out a journalist who had questioned him about Pakistan's fielding concerns.

"I think you might not have watched the match properly. We didn't make such mistakes in our fielding. Maybe if you review it again, you will see that the match actually looked good," Rauf said earlier this week.

Pakistan had won the first meeting between the teams in the competition by 31 runs. On Tuesday, Nabi grabbed 2-20 to help restrict Pakistan to 151-9 as they chased 169. 

Ibrahim Zadran's 45-ball 65 and Sediqullah Atal's brisk 64 helped Afghanistan to 169-5 in their 20 overs despite Pakistan paceman Faheem Ashraf's career best 4-27. Ashraf's previous best of 3-5 was against Scotland at Edinburgh in 2018.

In reply, Pakistan briefly looked on course to chase down the target with Fakhar Zaman scoring an 18-ball 25 in his 100th T20I but Nabi dismissed him and Mohammad Haris, for oner, to end all hopes.

Tail-ender Haris Rauf top-scored with 34 not out, hitting four sixes off 16 balls.

Spinner Rashid Khan, until Tuesday the only Afghanistan bowler to take 100 or more T20I wickets, Fazalhaq Farooqi and Noor Ahmad all took two wickets.

Pakistan will now look to regroup on Thursday when they face the United Arab Emirates in their final game of the round-robin stage.

(With AFP Inputs)

Topics mentioned in this article

Pakistan Cricket Team Afghanistan West Indies Cricket Team Ireland Cricket Team Cricket