Pakistan got off to a winning start in the T20I tri-series in Sharjah thanks to an unbroken fifty from captain Salman Agha and a four-wicket haul from Haris Rauf. Afghanistan performed admirably in the opening part of both innings before faltering and losing by a margin of 39 runs.
Sahibzada Farhan got off to a blazing start with a pair of sixes early in his bat before his blitz was cut short by Azmatullah Omarzai. If it weren’t for comeback player Mujeeb Ur Rahman’s frugal beginning spell, Pakistan’s powerplay total of 54 may have been much higher. After that, Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan continued their excellent work by hitting in consecutive overs to put Pakistan under pressure.
Pakistan made just 76 at the midway point, while Hasan Nawaz was also dismissed soon after as he misplayed and was caught close to the end. However, thanks to their captain’s outstanding rearguard work, Pakistan pulled off an incredible comeback from 83/4. Agha opened the scoring with a pair of boundaries off Fareed Ahmad, then in the very next over, he hit back-to-back sixes off Rashid. After Pakistan made a remarkable comeback, it was Mohammad Nawaz’s time to take a beating. Nawaz’s dismissal by Mujeeb did slow them down a little, but a few well-timed cameos later in the order helped Pakistan surpass 180 runs, with Agha staying undefeated at 53 to finish.
Ibrahim Zadran was then removed with Shaheen Afridi’s signature inswinging yorker to deliver an early punch. Only in the fifth over of the chase, when Rahmanullah Gurbaz hit Faheem Ashraf for consecutive fours, was Afghanistan able to push their run rate over six. Sediqullah Atal put Pakistan under pressure with a few of sixes after Afghanistan broke 50 thanks to a six on the last ball of the powerplay. Afghanistan was in a really good position at 85/2 by the interval, despite Gurbaz being cleaned up while trying to sweep.
Haris Rauf then dented Afghanistan with two wickets in one over, giving Pakistan complete control.
Haris Rauf persistence in using the offcutter paid off when Karim Janat blasted a beautiful one straight to the deep backward square leg after Atal mistimed one to leave for 23. Sufiyan Muqeem then stunned Afghanistan with a superb catch off his own bowling to give Pakistan three wickets in five balls.
Then, as Omarzai and Nabi both left in consecutive overs, leaving Afghanistan reeling at 97/7, things got worse. The last nail in Afghanistan’s coffin was losing five wickets for only four more runs. Rashid put on a show by slamming five sixes, including three in an over from Rauf but that only managed to reduce down the margin of loss. In less than a day, Pakistan will now play the hosts, the United Arab Emirates, at the same location.
India
