COMMENT – Abdur Razzaq became the seventh Pakistani and 35th player overall to play 250 or more matches in limited overs international cricket. The abandoned match between Pakistan at New Zealand at Queenstown Events Centre on Wednesday (January 26) was 250th for this all rounder.
The right hand lower order batsman and right arm fast medium pace bowler from Lahore who made his international debut against Zimbabwe at Lahore on November 1, 1996, took 14 years and 87 days to reach the milestone. Abdur Razzaq played 246 one-day international matches for Pakistan and appeared in four matches for Asia XI.
Inzamam (378 matches), Wasim Akram (356 matches), Shahid Afridi (308 matches), Salim Malik (283 matches), Mohammed Yusuf (288 matches), Waqar Younis (262 matches) and Ijaz Ahmed (250 matches) were the other Pakistani players to play 250 or more matches before Abdur Razzaq.
Queenstown is the place for adrenaline-junkies but there was little excitement on Wednesday as persistent rain allowed only 4.2 overs of play. There were showers early in the morning, but it cleared up before start of play. The rains returned soon after Daniel Vettori chose to field, as every international captain has done after winning the toss in Queenstown.
It was the second abandoned match in 85 played matches between Pakistan and New Zealand. The first abandoned match between the two teams was played at Eden Park, Auckland on February 17, 1985. No play was possible on February 16 and only 49.1 overs were bowled next day. Pakistan were facing another defeat when rain ended the match. Their main batsmen could make nothing of some accurate bowling, the seventh wicket falling at 92.
But Ramiz Raja repeated his cheerful Christchruch display and received splendid assistance from Tahir Naqqash. These two scored 64 together in seven overs. The second one dayer was the 12th abandoned match on New Zealand soil.
