Naseem Shah has done it for Pakistan. In a nail biting encounter against rivals Afghanistan, Pakistan came victorious by 1 wickets. It was fully a dramatic encounter where we witnessed a runout at non-striker’s end, Shadab Khan’s mature batting performance, Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s career best 151 and Naseem Shah’s dream finish.
After being bowled out for just 59 runs in the previous match, it was important for Afghanistan show up with a better intent and batting performance. They had to put the story of previous match behind and give spectacular batting performance and actually they did by posting exactly 300 runs on the board.
It won’t be wrong to say that Afghanistan could have gotten some more runs, maybe around 320-330. They lost their first wicket in the form of Ibrahim Jadran at the score of 227. From thereon, Pakistan’s bowlers kept chipping away wickets at regular intervals. The Previous match’s hero Haris Rauf went for 48 in 7 overs with a naught in his wicket column, however, Shaheen shah Afridi picked two key wickets in the last 10 over of the innings.
Nothing to take away from Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s 151 which was his career best ODI score and highest score by a wicketkeeper batter against Pakistan in ODI cricket. After completing 100 in 124 balls, he scored next 51 runs in just 27 balls. Alongside side him, his opening partner scored 80 off 101 balls. These two big innings really allowed Afghanistan to touch the 300 runs mark.
Pakistan Chases 300 in a nail biting encounter
Chase of 300 is always going to be tough regardless of who are you playing against and Afghanistan has some serious bowling unit, especially their spinners. However, Pakistan got start they needed to chase down the 300 runs target. Their first wicket fell at 52 runs when Fakhar Zaman got out after scoring 30 runs then Babar Azam and imam Ul Haq shared 118 runs partnership.
Babar plate a decent knock of 53 runs, smashing 27th half century of his ODI career. On the other hand, Imam Ul Haq scored 91 runs in 105 balls, his innings kept Pakistan very much ahead in the chase. However, then the period came when Afghanistan brought itself back in the game. After Babar fell at 170, things turned around for both teams, Pakistan lost five wickets for next 30 runs, leaving them on 211 for 6 wickets.
A decent partnership of 47 runs between Iftikhar Ahmad and Shadab Khan kept the game moving. Shadad played more of an aggresive knock but the match heading towards a nervy finish.
The Mankad Fazal Haq Farooqi & Finish by Naseem Shah
Pakistan required 43 runs for victory in last 22 balls with only 3 wickets in hand. The best thing for Pakistan was that Shadab Khan was at the crease and he making the gap between balls and runs shorter and shorter. In the last over, Pakistan needed 11 runs to win, Naseem Shah was on strike.
On the first ball, Shadab tried to be cheeky by streching out of the crease to steal a single, however, Fazalhaq Farooqi had run him out at non striker’s end which was deemed fair by the umpires. Still, 11 runs from 6 balls with 1 wicket in hand. Naseem Shah sent the first ball of the over for a boundary and the last one too when they needed 3 runs for win.
