Afghanistan won the toss and chose to bat first in their T20 tri-series match against Pakistan in Sharjah on Tuesday.
Pakistan 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 have 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.
