In the current World Cup, Pakistan, which has lost two matches in a row, won the toss against Afghanistan in their fifth match and went into bat, losing 7 wickets in the scheduled 50 overs and made 282. Afghans need 283 runs to win.
Pakistan lost their first wicket by 56 runs against Afghanistan today. Then Abdullah Shafiq and Babar Azam took the lead of the team. Both of them brought up individual fifties today. Shafiq returned to 58 runs and Babar returned to 74 runs. And at the end, Pakistan scored 282 runs after losing 7 wickets after the scheduled 50 overs with Shadab Khan and Iftikhar Ahmed’s partnership of 73 runs.
Abdullah Shafiq and Imam-ul-Haq, the two openers who started the opening for Pakistan today, played carefully from the beginning. They were not giving any chance to the Afghan bowlers. Pakistan scored 56 runs without losing any wicket in the first power play based on this pair. But then there is a fall in rhythm. Opener Imam-ul-Haq returned to Sajghar with the team’s 56 runs. Imam Azmatullah Omarzai, who scored 17 runs off 22 balls, was caught by Naveen-ul-Haq and returned to the pavilion. Pakistan’s opening pair broke for 56 runs on his departure. After losing 1 wicket for 56 runs, Abdullah Shafiq formed a partnership with captain Babar Azam. Meanwhile, Shafiq picked up a personal half-century.
He scored 50 runs off 60 balls. Which includes 4 fours and 2 sixes. Based on this pair, Pakistan took the team’s century in 20 overs. But Abdullah Shafiq could not take his innings far despite picking up a personal half-century. He fell victim to LBW by Noor Ahmed. He scored 54 runs off 75 balls before getting out.
Mohammad Rizwan, who scored 46 runs in the previous match, could not stay at the crease for long after Shafiq. He gave a catch at short fine leg off the ball of Noor Ahmed. Mujeeb ur Rahman, who was standing, made no mistake in palming the catch when it went short fine. As a result, he returned with only 8 runs. After the departure of Rizwan, Babar Azam paired with Saud Shakeel. 43 runs came from this pair. This pair was broken by Saud Shakeel’s departure for the team’s 163 runs.
Shakil Mohammad, who scored 25 runs off 34 balls, returned after being caught by Rashid Khan off Nabir. On his departure, Pakistan lost 4 wickets for 163 runs. Babar Azam paired with Shadab Khan after Shakil’s departure. In the meantime, Babar picked up a personal half-century. He scored 50 runs off 69 balls. Which includes hitting three fours.
But this pair could not go far. The pair broke up when Babar Azam returned to the pavilion as Noor Ahmed’s third victim. Babar, who raised the hope of a century, scored 74 runs off 92 balls and went back to Sajghar after handing over the catch to Mohammad Nabi at extra cover off Noor Ahmed. On his departure, Pakistan lost 5 wickets for 206 runs.
Shadab Khan and Iftikhar Ahmed tied the pair after Babar’s departure. 73 runs came from this pair. This pair was broken by the departure of Iftikhar Ahmed for the team’s 279 runs.
Iftikhar Ahmed, who scored 40 runs off 27 balls, was caught by Rashid Khan at deep extra cover off Naveen-ul-Haq and went back to Sajghar. In the end, Pakistan scored 282 runs after losing 7 wickets in the scheduled 50 overs.
For Afghanistan, Noor Ahmed took 3 wickets, Naveen-ul Haque 2 wickets, Mohammad Nabi 1 wicket and Azmatullah Omarzai 1 wicket.
(October 23/NBW)