All-rounder Faheem Ashraf bowled a career-best spell of 4-27 as Pakistan needed 170 to win against Afghanistan 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.
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 Ibrahim Zadran and Sediqullah Atal as both batters scored 50s for their side.
The Afghan 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 had brought in Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf 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.
