Azhar Ali responds to Fakhar Zaman's viral appreciative statement

KARACHI: Former Pakistan captain Azhar Ali on Thursday returned the praise to left-handed opener Fakhar Zaman, crediting the latter for making it "easy" for him in the ICC Men's Champions Trophy 2017 semi-final as well as other important fixtures.

The indirect interaction between the two former teammates started with Zaman's reported statement, in which he gave the entire credit of his match-winning knock in the summit clash of the eight-team tournament against arch-rivals India to Ali.

"If you look closely the first ten overs of the Champions Trophy final, I was badly struggling. I think the whole credit goes to Azhar Ali for the way he played in those first ten overs. He was making it easy for me," Zaman was quoted as saying by a digital cricket news platform.

Zaman's statement quickly went viral on social media and eventually caught the attention of Ali, who replied to the post shared by the digital platform on X, formerly Twitter, and reciprocated the appreciation.

"You made it easy for me in the semi-final and other games," Ali wrote with a heart emoji and tagged Zaman in his post.

It is pertinent to mention that the opening pair of Ali and Zaman played a pivotal role in Pakistan's historic Champions Trophy triumph in 2017 as they registered a 40-run partnership in the crucial group-stage match against South Africa, followed by a 74-run stand in the virtual quarter-final against Sri Lanka.

The pair put together 118 runs for the first wicket in the semi-final against tournament hosts and favourites England before knitting a platform setting 128-run stand against fierce rivals India in the blockbuster final.

Fakhar finished as the leading run-getter for Pakistan in the Champions Trophy 2017 with 252 in four innings at a remarkable average of 63.00 and a strike rate of 113, while Azhar was second with 228 runs in five innings at 45.60.