Less than 48 hours after their arrival in Hyderabad, Pakistan are up and running and taking on New Zealand in the first of their twin warm-up games. The match is being played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Friday (September 29) with Pakistan winning the toss and electing to bat first. While the Men in Green have scored 80-2 in 18 Overs before the rain interruped play, what has grabbed the attention of the netizens so far is an emoji on the shoes of the Pakistan captain.
One of Pakistan's most prolific run-scorers, Babar was spotted wearing special shoes for this fixture against New Zealand. While it is still not clear as to whether there is a special reason or cause for donning these shoes, the picture of it has gone viral on social media with fans leaving all sorts of comment on it.
Take a look at some of the reactions here:
After their match against New Zealand, Pakistan's second warm-up game will be against Australia at the same venue on October 3. They will then meet Netherlands in their World Cup opener on October 6 before taking on Sri Lanka also in Hyderabad on October 10. They will then travel to Ahmedabad for the high-voltage match against India at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on October 14. Kolkata, Bengaluru and Chennai are the other Indian cities that will host Pakistan's matches in India during the course of this world cup which begins on October 5 and concludes on November 19.
Around 200 policemen are on duty to maintain security for this PAK vs NZ warm-up match being played behind closed doors. The number will go up to 800, as confirmed in a report by news agency PTI, when the match will be played in front of fans on October 3.