T20 World Cup is in the super 12 stage and Pakistan defeated Afghanistan in a thrilling contest in the second half of the double header.
Pakistan with this win, now has three consecutive wins over the three strongest teams of their group. The match was not one sided, Pakistan was in the back foot during the end but made a comeback.
Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bat first. Afghanistan batting first scored 147 runs but Pakistan managed to chase it with 5 wickets and an over remaining.
Asif Ali was awarded with the player of the match for his heroic cameo. Ali hit 4 sixes in the 19th over to Karim Janat and totally turned the tables for his side and stole the victory from Afghanistan.
Match Summary
Afghanistan won the toss and invited Pakistan to bowl first. Zazai and Shahzad came to open the innings for Afghanistan.
The openers failed to gave their team a start as Zazai got out on duck in the second over itself on Imad Wasim’s delivery.
Afghanistan lost the wicket of Shahzad too in the very next over. He lost his wicket to Shaheen Afridi after scoring 8 runs of 9 balls.
Now Gurbaz and Afghan were on the pitch and both of them got out after scoring 10 runs of 7 balls in two consecutive overs.
Afghanistan lost four wickets in the first six overs at the score of 39 runs. They were on the backfoot now.
Janat and Zadran tried to progressed the scoreboard from there but could not do that for long as Janat got out in the 10th over after scoring 15 runs of 17 balls.
Zadran got out real soon after that in the 13th over after scoring 22 runs of 21 balls on Shadab Khan’s delivery. Afghanistan was on backfoot again.
From here Nabi and Naib came to their team’s rescue both sincerely progressed the scoreboard and rest of their innings.
Both Nabi and Naib returned not out and helped their team reach a respectable total.
Nabi scored 35 runs on 32 balls and Naib scored 35 runs of 25 balls.
Both played crucial knocks for their team in the end and helped them finish on 147 in 20 overs. Afghanistan from 39-4 got to 147-6, which was really impressive.
Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam came to open the innings for Pakistan and chase the target. The openers this time failed to gave their side a good start.
Rizwan got out in the third over itself after scoring just 8 runs in 10 balls on Mujeeb Ur Rahman’s delivery.
Fakhar Zaman joined their skipper in the middle and progressed the scoreboard. Both batsmen did a 63 runs crucial partnership before Zaman’s departure in the 12th over.
Fakhar Zaman scored 30 runs of 25 balls before his departure on Rashid Khan’s delivery.
Hafeez joined Babar Azam in the middle but failed to score big runs and got out in the 15th over after scoring just 10 runs of 10 balls on Rashid Khan’s ball.
Babar Azam completed his second half century of the World Cup and played a captain’s knock for their side before his departure in the 17th over.
Pakistan lost another wicket in the very next over in form of Shoaib Malik. He got out after scoring 19 runs of 15 balls.
Now Afghanistan were back in the game with wickets in quick successions. Pakistan was in need of 24 runs in 12 balls with no set batsmen on field.
Then came Asif Ali to save the day for Pakistan. Janat came to bowl the 19th over for Pakistan and Asif Ali hit his first, third, fifth and sixth ball for maximums.
Asif Ali hit four sixes in a single over and completely changed the game for Pakistan and single handedly lead them to victory.
Pakistan with this win over now have defeated three of the biggest hurdle of their group and their entry in semi finals is just a matter of formality now.
Afghanistan played a great game but eventually lost it from a point where they had the victory in their pockets.
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