CHENNAI: Afghanistan pulled off their second giant-killing act of the ongoing 50-over World Cup with a memorable eight-wicket victory against 1992 champions Pakistan on Monday.
Afghanistan’s top three batters smashed fifties and skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi made an unbeaten 48 at number four in their successful pursuit of a 283-run victory target that they accomplished with one over to spare.
It was Afghanistan’s first ODI victory against Pakistan in eight attempts and the outcome leaves defending champions England at the bottom of the points table.
It was a clinical chase by Shahidi’s men, who had stunned England earlier in the tournament, after Pakistan posted 282-7 riding on half-centuries by skipper Babar Azam and opener Abdullah Shafique.
“This win tastes nice,” a beaming Shahidi said after their second victory in five matches “The way we chased today was very professional.”
Babar won the toss and elected to bat against a spin-heavy Afghan attack, which kept things tight in the first 10 powerplay overs.
Afghanistan packed in four spinners in their playing XI but it was pacer Azmatullah Omarzai who drew first blood by dismissing Imam-ul-Haq for 17.
Teenage spinner Noor Ahmad (3-49) dismissed Abdullah Shafique (58) and Mohammad Rizwan (eight) in his successive overs in his memorable World Cup debut.
Babar (74) fell to Noor as well trying to accelerate the scoring, leaving it to Iftikhar Ahmed and Shadab Khan to provide the late flourish.
Iftikhar clobbered four sixes in his belligerent 40, while Shadab contributed as many runs before falling to the last ball of the innings.
Afghanistan raced to the 100-mark in the 16th over with openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (65) and player-of-the-match Ibrahim Zadran (87) combining in a breakneck opening stand of 130.
They made Pakistan’s bowling look pedestrian and Babar’s men did not help their cause with sloppy fielding.
Shaheen Afridi returned to break the burgeoning stand, dismissing Gurbaz, but Zadran and Rahmat Shah, who made 77 not out, continued the good work.
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Hasan Ali ended Zadran’s gallant knock but Shah and Shahidi milked the Pakistan attack with consummate ease during their unbroken 96-run stand to seal a memorable victory over their neighbours.
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“That really hurt us,” a dejected Babar said after Pakistan’s third defeat in five matches left their semi-final hopes in the balance.
“We got a good total but our bowling was not up to the mark. In World Cups you need all three departments firing and we haven’t done that.”
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Pakistan brought back Shadab Khan in place of Mohammad Nawaz while Afghanistan brought back Noor Ahmad in place of Fazal Haq Farooqui to add another spinner in their bowling lineup on a pitch that supports spin-bowling.
Pakistan and Afghanistan have clashed in ODIs seven times so far, with Pakistan emerging victorious on all seven occasions. The two teams have gone against each other only once in the ODI World Cup.
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Both the teams are heading into the game after facing a loss in their previous matches and will now look forward to redeeming themselves and grab those two crucial points.
Here are the head-to-head numbers ahead of the match:
PAKISTAN vs AFGHANISTAN HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD IN ODIS
Matches played: 7
Pakistan won: 7
Afghanistan won: 0
Last result: Pakistan won by 59 runs (Colombo, 2023)
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