Dubai: Pakistan continued their unbeaten run in the ICC World T20 after registering a hard fought 5 wicket victory over Afghanistan in Super 12, Group 2 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Friday. Chasing 148, Pakistan needed 24 off the last 12 when Asif Ali(25*) repeat a Carlos Brathwaite feat as he smashed four sixes off Karim Janat’s over to close in his side’s chance for the next round.
Brathwaite, the West Indies all-rounder created headlines after he smashed England’s Ben Stokes four consecutive sixes in the final of the last T20 World Cup in Kolkata to secure the Caribbean’s second title in cricket’s shortest format.
Meanwhile, Pakistan had to toil hard from begining. Babar Azam anchored the Pakistani innings with a 47 ball 51 before showing a lack of responsibility, getting dismissed while going for a big off the last ball of the final from star Afghan spinner Rashid Khan. The Pakistan skipper though joined hand with Fakhar Zaman(30) to build the innings up after the early departure of Mohammad Rizwan.
The duo added 63 runs for the second-wicket which was crucial for chase before Fakhar fell to Mohammad Nabi in 12th over. Although, the run-rate was within the grasp of Pakistan, they lost wickets thanks to a superb spell by Rashid(2/26) topping the bowling charts. The Afghan leg-spinner looked threatening right from the first over and it didn’t took long as he removed the veteran Mohammad Hafeez before coming back for his last over to remove Babar who was on set to take the game.
Rashid was complemented well by another couple of Afghan youngsters Mujeeb Ur Rahman(1/14) and Naveen – Ul – Haq(1/22) helping their side to tighten their grip in the majority of the game despite not having much runs on the board until Pakistani batter Asif completely demolished the game in just one over.
Earlier, Afghanistan rode on unbeaten knocks from skipper Mohammad(35*) and Gulbadin Naib(35*) to score 147/6. After suffering collapse right from the beginning, the middle-order duo added 71 runs especially hammering runs towards the end although Pakistani seamer Shaheen Afridi(1/22) bowled superb last over. Apart from Hasan Ali and Hairs Rauf, others executed their plans well with Imad Wasim(2/25) topping the charts.
Brief Scores: Pakistan 148/5 in 19 overs( Babar Azam 51, Fakhar Zaman 30; Rashid Khan 2/26,Mujeeb – Ur – Rahman 1/14) beat Afghanistan 147/6 in 20 overs(Mohammad Nabi 35*, Gulbadin Naib 35*; Imad Wasim 2/25, Shaheen Afridi 1/22) by 5 wickets.
