Afghanistan men’s quartet of spinners ruled the roost as they beat Pakistan by 18 runs in their Twenty20 International tri-series encounter in Sharjah on Tuesday.
Both teams observed a minute of silence for the flood victims in Pakistan and the earthquake victims in Afghanistan before the match.
Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan said that they would aim for crossing 170 after winning the toss and batting, but his team fell just short of that mark as Pakistan’s bowlers, led by Faheem, kept the lid on scoring.
However, the Pakistani reply never got going as the Afghan bowlers kept taking wickets at regular intervals, with pacer Haris Rauf being the highest scorer for the Green Shirts.
Faheem was the pick of the bowlers for Pakistan, picking a career best of four wickets for 27 runs and picking up the prized scalps of player of the match Ibrahim Zadran and Sediqullah Atal as both batters scored 50s for their side.
Pakistan still top the table in the tri-series, with both sides scheduled to play the UAE ahead of the final on Sunday.
The Afghan batting innings suffered an early blow as Saim Ayub got rid of Rahmanullah Gurbaz in just the second over of the innings after the Afghan opener hit him for the first maximum of the match.
The part-time spinner gave away just 18 runs in his quota of four overs, keeping the Afghan batters in check.
Pakistan’s fast bowlers hit back of a length at the start of the innings, being wary of not bowling too full on the high-scoring Sharjah pitch.
Haris, who took four wickets in the previous encounter, was welcomed to the crease with a maximum by Zadran in the fifth over, courtesy of a pull shot off a short delivery that went over the mid-wicket boundary.
Pakistan’s bowlers kept a lid on Afghanistan’s scoring in the powerplay — with the Afghan Atalan getting just 34 in the first six overs for the loss of one wicket.
Zadran and southpaw opener Atal kept the scoreboard ticking, reaching 73-1 at the halfway mark of the Afghan innings.
Both batters subsequently upped the scoring rate for Afghanistan — taking 20 off the 14th over bowled by Sufyan Muqim, with Atal bringing up his second 50 of the tournament.
The left-handed opener finally fell for 64 of 46 deliveries in the 16th over when he misqued a shot trying to hit Faheem Ashraf over long-on.
Zadran continued to hit boundaries, reaching the 50-run mark in 38 balls and hitting back-to-back fours to end the 17th over by Haris.
Azmatullah Omarzai fell to Faheem, who took a catch of his own bowling after the Afghan all-rounder top-edged a ball after being dropped earlier. Zadran was the next to follow, mistiming a slower ball to Muhammad Nawaz at deep mid-wicket.
The Afghan batters continued to get the odd boundary and finished on 169-5 at the end of the first innings.
Pakistan’s chase suffered early setbacks as both openers were back in the dressing room with just 27 on the board, courtesy some sharp bowling by Afghan pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi.
Both Saim and Sahibzada Farhan fell to him as the left-arm pacer bowled tight lines and lengths in his first spell.
Pakistan’s innings momentum returned in the sixth over of the innings, courtesy a six by skipper Salman Ali Agha and one by Fakhar Zaman that ended up on the enclosure roof.
That was short-lived as Fakhar fell to the wily off-spin of Muhammad Nabi and the Pakistan skipper got run out in a casual manner while returning for a second run.
The Afghan spinners then took wickets at regular intervals as none of the Pakistani batters crossed the 30-run mark, barring Haris — who top-scored with four sixes to bring some respectability to the Green Shirts’ final tally.
Pakistan had brought in Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris in place of Hasan Ali and Salman Mirza — the latter duo having played against the UAE in the previous encounter for the Green Shirts.
In the tournament being played as a warm-up ahead of the Asia Cup — which starts on September 9 — Pakistan started with thrashings of Afghanistan and the United Arab Emirates, thanks to several players chipping in with impactful contributions. The tournament’s final is set for Sept 7.
After seasoned pacer Haris Rauf and skipper Salman Ali Agha led Pakistan to a 39-run win over Afghanistan in the opener, Saim Ayub and Hasan Nawaz scored half-centuries each to see the side down UAE by 31 runs.
The UAE fixture saw Pakistan cross the 200-mark as Hasan Nawaz launched a late onslaught after opener Saim Ayub had set the stage. Experienced fast bowler Hasan Ali then wrapped up the proceedings with 3-47 as UAE’s Asif Khan’s blistering 77 off 35 went in vain.
Under white-ball head coach Mike Hesson, Pakistan are building up to next year’s T20 World Cup without now discarded senior pros Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan.
Pakistan shuffled their bowling line-up in the previous match against the UAE to bring in Hasan Ali and Salman Mirza in place of Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris — the latter duo having played against Afghanistan in the previous match.
Teams:
Pakistan: Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Fakhar Zaman, Salman Agha (captain), Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Haris (wicket-keeper), Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf and Sufyan Moqim.
Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Karim Janat, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan (captain), Mohammad Nabi, AM Ghazanfar, Noor Ahmad and Fazalhaq Farooqi.
