Pakistan clinch thrilling final-over win over Afghanistan

Pakistan clinch thrilling final-over win over afghanistan0

Thursday at Hambantota, Sri Lanka, Pakistan defeated Afghanistan by one wicket to take the three-match series.

Imam-ul-Haq’s 105-ball innings helped Pakistan, who were chasing 301 to win the series, get there with one ball to spare.

Pakistan maintained composure to win the second ODI by the slimmest of margins—with a ball and a wicket to spare—in the last overs of the second innings, which were laced with one dramatic moment after another.

As he stole away what would have been Afghanistan’s first ODI victory against Pakistan, Naseem Shah tormented the team once more.

As Pakistan scored 11 runs off the last over to end with 302-9 in 49.5 overs, the 20-year-old mishit a boundary off fast bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi and sprinted joyously to the dressing room.

With the last game in the three-match series taking place on Saturday in Colombo, Pakistan already has a commanding 2-0 lead.

Earlier, Afghanistan reached 300-5 thanks to the swashbuckling opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who smashed a career-high 151.

After Afghanistan won the toss and chose to bat, the 21-year-old produced an aggressive run-per-ball century and shared an opening stand of 227 with Ibrahim Zadran, who hit an 80 off of 101 balls.

Gurbaz hit 14 boundaries and three sixes against a top-notch assault that had reduced Afghanistan to 59 all out on Tuesday in order for Afghanistan to win and even the three-match series.

Gurbaz’s previous best was 145, which he scored last month in Chattogram against Bangladesh.

Zadran also displayed excellent striking, hitting two sixes and six boundaries.

Usama Mir, a spinner, broke the opening partnership in the 40th over by getting Zadran caught at far off, and in the 45th over, lanky pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi had Gurbaz out caught behind.

Rashid Khan was also taken out for two by Shaheen, who finished with a 2-58.

Afghanistan amassed 73 runs in the last ten overs, with Mohammad Nabi scoring a run-a-ball 29 before being caught by Naseem Shah.

Haris Rauf, a fast bowler who had a career-high 5-18 in the first game, went for 48 in seven unsuccessful overs.

Scorecard

Afghanistan  
Rahmanullah Gurbaz    c Mohammad Rizwan b Shaheen Afridi    151
 Ibrahim Zadran        c Iftikhar Ahmed b Usama Mir           80
 Mohammad Nabi         c Imam ul-Haq b Naseem Shah            29
 Rashid Khan           lbw Shaheen Afridi                      2
 Shahidullah Kamal     Run Out Shaheen Afridi                  1
 Hashmatullah Shahidi  Not Out                                15
 Abdul Rahman          Not Out                                 4
 Extras                0b 11lb 2nb 0pen 5w                    18
 Total                 (50.0 overs)                        300-5
Fall of Wickets : 1-227 Zadran, 2-256 Gurbaz, 3-260 Khan, 4-270 Kamal, 5-294 Nabi
Did Not Bat : Hassan, Khil, Ur Rahman, Farooqi

 Bowling         Ov  Md  Rn  Wk  Econ  Ex
 Shaheen Afridi  10   0  58   2  5.80  1nb
 Naseem Shah      9   0  45   1  5.00  3w 1nb
 Haris Rauf       7   0  48   0  6.86
 Shadab Khan     10   0  53   0  5.30  1w
 Usama Mir       10   0  61   1  6.10  1w
 Iftikhar Ahmed   4   0  24   0  6.00

 ………………………………………………………..
 Pakistan  
 Fakhar Zaman     b Fazalhaq Farooqi                            30
 Imam ul-Haq      c Riaz Hassan b Mujeeb Ur Rahman              91
 Babar Azam       c Hashmatullah Shahidi b Fazalhaq Farooqi     53
 Mohammad Rizwan  Run Out Hashmatullah Shahidi                   2
 Agha Salman      c Rahmanullah Gurbaz b Mohammad Nabi          14
 Usama Mir        c Shahidullah Kamal b Mohammad Nabi            0
 Iftikhar Ahmed   c Mohammad Nabi b Abdul Rahman                17
 Shadab Khan      Run Out Fazalhaq Farooqi                      48
 Shaheen Afridi   c Rashid Khan b Fazalhaq Farooqi               4
 Naseem Shah      Not Out                                       10
 Haris Rauf       Not Out                                        3
 Extras           0b 6lb 0nb 0pen 24w                           30
 Total            (49.5 overs)                               302-9
Fall of Wickets : 1-52 Zaman, 2-170 Azam, 3-176 Rizwan, 4-208 Salman, 5-208 Mir, 6-211 ul-Haq, 7-258 Ahmed, 8-272 Afridi, 9-290 Khan

 Bowling            Ov  Md  Rn  Wk  Econ  Ex
 Fazalhaq Farooqi  9.5   0  69   3  7.02  2w
 Mujeeb Ur Rahman   10   0  45   1  4.50  2w
 Abdul Rahman       10   0  83   1  8.30  4w
 Mohammad Nabi      10   0  46   2  4.60  2w
 Rashid Khan        10   0  53   0  5.30  2w

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