Pakistan beat Afghanistan by 3 wickets

Sports Desk: Pakistan beat Afghanistan by 3 wickets in their World Cup match at Headingley on Saturday.

Imad Wasim hammered brilliant innings of 49 runs off 54 balls with 5 fours while Wahab Riaz hit 15 runs from 9 balls.

The men in green were in hot waters after losing another wicket in the 47th over as allrounder Shadab Khan (11) was run out by Gulbadin Nabi and Ikram Alikhil when he was running back for a second run.

Imad Wasim was then joined by Wahab Riaz as Pakistan chased a modest 228-run target.

Chances had dimmed after skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed walked back to the pavilion after he was run out by Najibullah Zadran and Ikram Alikhil in the 39th over.

Shadab Khan joined Imad Wasim on the crease as Pakistan chased a modest target of 228 runs. Pakistan were 164 for 6 by the 41st over and needed 64 runs off 50 balls.

At this point, Afghanistan's chances of victory, as per the win predictor, had risen to 79 per cent.

Pakistan faced a setback after Haris Sohail (27) was given lbw on Rashid Khan's ball in the 35th over.

The wicket came just as Sohail and skipper Sarfraz Ahmed were looking to form a strong partnership after Mohammad Hafeez's (19) dismissal in the 30th over. Sohail was replaced by Wasim.

Sohail and Hafeez had formed a 40-run partnership before the latter played a tame shot leading the ball right into Hashmatullah Shahidi's hands on a delivery by Mujeebur Rahman.

Babar Azam, who scored his maiden World Cup century in Pakistan's match against New Zealand earlier this week, was bowled out by Mohammad Nabi. He scored 45 off 51 balls.

Babar followed Imamul Haq, who scored 36 off 46, back to the pavilion. Imam had been stumped on the last ball of the 16th over attempting to hit Nabi.

Pakistan had lost opener Fakhar Zaman (0) and their review on the second ball of the innings. Zaman, who was given lbw on Rahman's delivery, thought the ball had hit the bat first and decided to go for a review.

Afghanistan innings

Afghanistan posted 227 runs for the loss of nine wickets.

The top scorers of the day were Asghar Afghan and Najibullah Zadran, both of whom scored 42 off 35 and 51 balls respectively. Rahmat Shah scored 35 off 43 ball.

Shaheen Shah Afridi stood out amongst the bowlers, bagging four wickets in his 10-over spell. He dismissed Gulbadin Naib (15) and Hashmatullah Shahidi (0) on two consecutive deliveries in the fifth over and was on the verge of a hatrick. He could not get the third consecutive wicket, however, as his yorker went past Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed for a 4 leg bye. The over proved to be expensive otherwise, giving away 14 runs.

The 19-year-old struck again in the 45th over and bowled out Zadran (42). The wicket came right after Zadran hit the sixth boundary of his innings, leading his team to 201. Afridi returned in the 47th over and picked his fourth wicket of the day by dismissing Rashid Khan, who was caught by Fakhar Zaman after he tried to hit an off-cutter over mid-off. Sajjad Sadiq, editor of the Pak Passion website, noted that Afridi was the first teenager to take a four-wicket haul in a World Cup innings.

Wahab Riaz and Imad Wasim also contributed to dismantling Afghanistan's batting order and took two wickets each. Riaz dismissed Mohammad Nabi (16) and Hamid Hassan (1) and gave away 29 runs in 8 overs. Wasim picked up wickets of Rahmat Shah (25) and Ikram Alikhil (24).

Shadab Khan took the crucial wicket of Afghan (42), who built a healthy 64-run partnership with Alikhil after Afghanistan had lost 3 wickets in the early stages of the game.

Afghan had helped Afghanistan recover after three early wickets with a fiery knock of 42 off 35 balls by hitting two sixes and three fours. His partner Alikhil was slower, scoring 24 runs off 66 balls, hitting one boundary in the process.

After Pakistani bowlers dismantled the partnership between Alikhil and Afghan, Zadran and Nabi struggled to maintain a healthy run rate that had dipped slightly. ESPN Cricinfo's predicted Afghanistan scoring up to at least 230 in 50 overs.

risingbd/Dhaka/June 29, 2019/AKA