T20 WC: Pakistan tame a spirited Afghanistan

PAKISTAN continued with their good form in the ongoing T20 World Cup by winning the third consecutive match on Friday (29) to almost confirm a berth in the semi-finals. The former champions tamed a spirited Afghanistan by five wickets to take their points tally in Group 2 to six. Afghanistan remained at No.2 position with two points from two games but a healthy net run-rate of 3.092.

Afghanistan overcame a batting collapse in the top order after their captain Mohammad Nabi won the toss and elected to bat at Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

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They lost their first wicket in Hazratullah Zazai (zero off five balls) in the second over and were left reeling at 76 for 6 in the 13th over. Nabi (35 not out off 32) and Gulbadin Naib (35 not out off 25) then came together to add 71 runs in little over seven overs for the seventh wicket to take their team’s total to a respectable 147 for 6.

For Pakistan, Imad Wasim took two wickets for 25 runs while Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali and Shadab Khan got a wicket each.

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Chasing the target of 148, Pakistan lost keeper-batter Mohammed Rizwan (8 off 10) in the third over. Skipper Babar Azam (51 off 47) then added 63 runs with Fakhar Zaman (30 off 25) for the second wicket when Nabi picked the latter. Pakistan then lost the experienced Mohammad Hafeez (10 off 10) quickly but Azam kept on fighting to complete his fifty. When Rashid Khan castled Babar in the 17th over, Afghanistan roared back into the game with the men in green needing 26 runs in three overs. Naveen-ul-Haq then bowled a tight 18th over and picked Shoaib Malik (19 off 15) to leave Pakistan cornered further.

But Afghanistan’s hopes of winning the game were dashed when Asif Ali smashed four sixes off young medium pacer Karim Janat in the penultimate over to take his side home with six balls to spare.