World Cup - As long as Fakhar was there, we could have chased 450: Babar Azam

Fakhar Zaman’s unbeaten 126 off 81 balls was enough for Pakistan to stay ahead of the DLS par-score, as they beat New Zealand by 21 runson Saturday, keeping themselves alive in the World Cup semis race. Captain Babar Azam also remained not out on 66 off 63 balls but felt had Fakhar stood his ground in case of a full chase, Pakistan would have even chased 450.

With their chances of qualifying for the top four hanging by a thin thread, Pakistan needed a statement-win against the Kiwis to press their case for the same.

Having conceded over 400 runs for the first time in this World Cup, the Men in Green was up for a gigantic run-chase and brought their A-game when needed. Out of touch in the lead-up to this CWC, Fakhar returned to form in thumping fashion, smoking 11 massive sixes and eight fours during his stay at the crease.

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Such was the impact of that onslaught that even commentators and pundits called this one of the knocks of this World Cup thus far. Babar’s views were not different.

"My view was as long as Fakhar was there, we could even have chased 450," Babar said while speaking with Fakhar during a PCB in-house video recording.

"When he plays innings like these, we win 90% of games. After every six I said to him, 'Don't force the issue'. He said, okay but then ignored me and started hitting sixes anyway. So, I then said to him, 'Do whatever you want, just don't get out'. [It's] one of the best innings I've seen,” the Pakistan captain added.

Rain was not on our mind – Babar

Even after winning the toss and electing to field first, for the sole reason that rain interruption could alter equations in the second innings, Babar insisted they were prepared to chase 402 as they didn’t think of rain earlier.

"We didn't have rain in our mind at all," he said.

"But the clouds came suddenly, and then we started to calculate the DLS, and we wanted to stay with it throughout. We were trying to keep wickets in hand, and I was trying to take it deep. Fakhar was utilising the short boundary while I held one end up, and we made sure we didn't let the run rate get out of control,” the ranked number one ODI batter added.

Meanwhile, with eight points each, New Zealand and Pakistan are alive in the race for a semis spot, considering several permutations and combinations.

New Zealand’s last league game is against Sri Lanka on Thursday in Bengaluru, while Pakistan will face the ousted England side in their final group match on November 11.