'I regret losing the match': Fakhar Zaman puts team's cause ahead of personal milestone

Pakistan opening batsman Fakhar Zaman has said that he does not regret missing the double ton in the second ODI against South Africa at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on Sunday, but he does regret not being able to take his team past the finish line.

Zaman, who waged a lone battle as he kept on losing his batting partners from the other end at regular intervals was run out in a controversial manner in the final over for 193 i.e. just seven runs short of his second double century in the 50-overs format.

'I regret losing the match': Fakhar Zaman

"I don't regret not getting the double, I regret losing the match. If we had won this it would've been amazing so my regret is about that. The situation was such that I was only focusing on getting the win, not the double. I couldn't finish it but I'd take scoring fewer runs than this and winning the game," ESPNcricinfo quoted Zaman as saying.

"Yes, to be honest, I thought we could win it even then, I think around the 25th over I just called Sarfraz Ahmed, he knows my game, I talked to him and said ask Babar can I start playing my natural game because Shamsi was bowling with small boundaries. At that time I was feeling that if I start hitting then I could win the game for Pakistan," he added.

Fakhar Zaman's valiant knock goes in vain

South Africa, who were asked to bat first by Pakistan skipper Babar Azam finished their innings at 341/6 from their 50 overs riding on stellar contributions from their top and middle order including the likes of wicket-keeper batsman Quinton de Kock (80), skipper Temba Bavuma (92), Rassie van der Dussen (60), and, David Miller (50) respectively.

In reply, the 1992 World Cup winners lost Imam-ul-Haq early after which Fakhar and skipper Babar added 63 runs for the second-wicket stand before the latter's dismissal. At 120/5, the visitors were starring down the barrel but, Zaman played a counter-attacking knock and showed great intent as he looked to take his side past the finish line.

However, with the asking rate getting steeper and no support from the other end, it was tough for him to get the job done single-handedly as Pak needed 31 runs from the final over with just a couple of wickets in hand and once the opening batsman was run out of the very first ball, it was the end of the road for the Champions Trophy holders as they were restricted to 324/9 from their 50 overs.

The Proteas registered a 17-run win to level the three-match series 1-1. 

(With ANI Inputs)