On a rainy day at Bengaluru's M Chinnaswamy Stadium during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, Pakistan pacer Hasan Ali faced criticism for dropping a crucial catch from New Zealand's Mitchell Santner.  

In the 50th over of New Zealand's innings, Santner took a short delivery from Shaheen Afridi who lofted the ball like a shooting star.  Hasan Ali was in the deep, couldn't get to the ball and Santner took full advantage to hit a six, two runs and a single to take New Zealand past 400.

      Despite this costly mistake, Pakistan managed to keep alive their hopes of making it to the semi-finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 by defeating New Zealand by 21 runs under the Duckworth-Louis method.  New Zealand posted a huge target of 401-6 after the batsmen were asked to bat first on a pitch they liked.  Opener Rachin Ravindra scored a century and skipper Kane Williamson scored a half-century.  Ravindra's brilliant left-hander scored 108 runs with 15 fours and a six, while Williamson, returning from a finger injury, fell short of a century with 95 off 79 balls.  There were 10 fours and two sixes.  The two put together a partnership of 180 runs for the second wicket.

      Apart from Ravindra and Williamson's brilliant performances, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman and opener Dion Conway made valuable contributions with 41, 39 and 35 runs respectively.

      Pakistan suffered an early blow when opener Abdullah Shafiq was dismissed for just four runs in pursuit of a tough target of 402 runs.  However, opener Fakhar Zaman and captain Babar Azam had different plans.  Fakhar Zaman showed aggressive batting and scored a century while Babar Azam played a supporting role.  Zaman scored a century in the left-hander's innings before rain interrupted proceedings for the first time.

      When Pakistan resumed their innings at 1-160, things went from bad to worse for New Zealand when spinner Ish Sodhi joined the attack.  Both Zaman and Azam benefited from some modest bowling, with Azam completing his half-century.  Unfortunately, rain again interrupted the match, with Pakistan on 200-1, and both Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam not out on 126 and 66 respectively.

      The match was eventually abandoned, and Pakistan was declared the winner by the DLS method with a lead of 21 runs.  Pakistan's win kept their World Cup semi-final hopes alive.


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