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Home » Cricket Home » News » I Wouldn't Call it Cheating, Shoaib Akhtar Opines on Fakhar Zaman’s Controversial Run-out

I Wouldn't Call it Cheating, Shoaib Akhtar Opines on Fakhar Zaman’s Controversial Run-out

Akhtar asserted that he felt bad for Fakhar as he wanted him to become the first Pakistani batsman to score two double-hundred in ODIs.

I Wouldn't Call it Cheating, Shoaib Akhtar Opines on Fakhar Zaman’s Controversial Run-out

Fakhar Zaman’s controversial run-out in the second One Day International of the three-match series against South Africa has hogged all the limelight in the cricket fraternity with many questioning the ‘Spirit of the Game’. The new addition to this list is Pakistan’s veteran pacer Shoaib Akhtar who expressed his disappointment over the entire episode.

The incident that triggered the infamous ‘spirit of the game’ debate happened during the 49th over of Pakistan’s innings when the Men in Green were chasing a mammoth target of 342 runs posted by the hosts. Zaman was playing at 193 when he decided to add two more runs to the scoreboard by taking a double off the delivery by Lungi Ngidi.

‘I Don’t Think It’s Quinton’s Fault’, Fakhar Zaman Takes the Blame for His Controversial Run-out

He and Haris Rauf easily completed one run and Zaman was all set to complete the second run too but the keeper, De Kock, tried to fool the batsman by pointing like the ball was going to hit the bowler’s end. The same resulted in Zaman getting relaxed and looking back for a moment.

This is exactly what South Africa wanted as the fielder Aiden Markram took the opportunity and uprooted the stumps at the keeper’s end to bring an end to Zaman’s blockbuster innings of 193 runs off 155 deliveries. Fake fielding isn’t allowed in cricket; thus many took to their Twitter handle to question the legality of the dismissal.

‘If Cheater Had a Face’ – Angry Pakistan Fans Target Quinton de Kock After Fakhar Zaman’s Controversial Run-out

Meanwhile, Shoaib Akhtar defended the keeper saying that it can’t be termed as cheating but wasn’t happy with de Kock’s gesture too as it hampered the spirit of the game.

“What Quinton de Kock did, I wouldn’t call it cheating, but it was not in the good spirit of the game. The spirit of the game was hurt which I didn’t like. Quinton de Kock is a great kid and he shouldn’t do it deliberately. Fakhar thought that when the throw was made, it would come to the non-striker’s end and he [Quinton] also made the same gesture,” Akhtar said in his YouTube channel

Further, Akhtar asserted that he felt bad for Fakhar as he wanted him to become the first Pakistani batsman to score two double-hundred in ODIs. “I felt bad because I wanted Fakhar to become the only Pakistani batsman to have two double centuries. If those penalty runs were given to Pakistan, they would have won the game easily,” he concluded.

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3 New Zealand 3716 116
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