In the Super Four stage of Asia Cup 2022, Pakistan not only qualified for the final by defeating Afghanistan after a sensational match, but eliminated both Afghanistan and India from the race for the final.
Pakistan got a target of 130 runs to win this match and reach the final of the event, which Naseem Shah achieved by hitting two sixes off two balls in the last over.
In pursuit of the target, the national batsmen could not show good batting and kept losing wickets at intervals.
Babar Azam got out on the very first ball, Fakhar Zaman could only play an innings of 5 runs while Mohammad Rizwan scored 20 runs, with which the national team lost 3 important wickets for 45 runs.
In such a situation, Shadab Khan played an innings of 36 runs off 26 balls and brightened the hopes of victory for the team, while Iftikhar Ahmed scored 30 runs with him.
When Shadab Khan and Iftikhar Ahmed also returned to the pavilion at Pakistan’s score of 97, then it became difficult for the Pakistani team to score runs.
In such a situation, when the national team needed 11 runs to win in the last over, tail-ender Naseem Shah hit two sixes in two balls to give the victory to the Pakistan team.
On behalf of Afghanistan, Fazul Haq Farooqui and Fareed Ahmed stood out with 3 wickets each, while Rashid Khan got one wicket.
Pakistan’s Shadab Khan was adjudged Man of the Match for his all-round performance.
In this match played at Sharjah Cricket Ground, Pakistan won the toss and decided to bowl first.
The Pakistani bowlers looked subdued in the beginning, but then they did not let the Afghan batsmen play openly. With which the Afghan team could only score 129 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in the stipulated 20 overs.
Hazratullah Zazai and Rahmanullah Garbaz gave the team a good start of 36 runs, but later the Pakistani bowlers overwhelmed the Afghan batsmen.
While the Afghan batsmen continued to score runs, they also lost wickets at intervals.
Ibrahim Zadran was the outstanding batsman by scoring 35 runs off 37 balls, while Hazratullah Zazai scored 21 runs, Rahmanullah Garbaz scored 17 runs, Karim Jannat scored 15 runs and Najeebullah Zadran scored 10 runs.
In the last moments, thanks to Rashid Khan’s unbeaten 18 and Azmatullah Orakzai’s 10 runs, the Afghan team managed to reach the figure of 129.
In this match, all the bowlers of Pakistan managed to take a wicket, however, Haris Rauf stood out with 2 wickets while Shadab Khan, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Hasnain and Mohammad Nawaz dismissed one Afghan player each.
Talking on the occasion of the toss, Pakistani captain Babar Azam said that we think there will be some dew later, in which case the pursuit of the target will be better.
He said that the atmosphere in the dressing room is very good and the team is trying to maintain the winning balance.
Afghanistan captain Muhammad Nabi said that if we had won the toss, we would have bowled first, but we hope to bowl well in the next innings and give the opponent a tough time.
He said that we are hopeful to correct the mistakes that have been made in the previous matches.
Playing XI:
The Pakistan team included captain Babar Azam, Muhammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Muhammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf and Muhammad Hasnain.
The Afghanistan team under the leadership of captain Mohammad Nabi consisted of Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmanullah Garbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Najeebullah Zadran, Karim Jannat, Rashid Khan, Azmatullah Orkazai, Naveen ul Haq, Mujibur Rehman and Fazal Haq Farooqui.
