Pakistan win!
Pakistan vs Afghanistan, Super Four, Match 2 - Live Cricket Score, Commentary
How will Rashid Khan floor us today? © AFP
A six and a four from Aftab Alam and Shoaib Malik is Pakistan's hero tonight. A measured 51* from 43 means he's gotten Pakistan over the line. Not all lost for Afghanistan; they were very good until that last over.
Pakistan needed 10 runs off the last over, the first ball of which was a dot. Aftab Alam bowled the next ball short, which Malik hit for a six to all but seal the game. The reason Afghanistan got so close to defending was their spinners. Mujeeb Ur Rahman got rid of the dangerous Fakhar Zaman in the first over, the left-handed opener out sweeping against spin for the first time in ODIs. What followed was a 154-run stand between Imam-ul-Haq and Babar Azam that settled nerves and set the stage for Malik to apply the finishing touches, which admittedly wasn't easy.
Imam's run out by Najibullah in the 34th over gave Afghanistan the opening they were looking for, and Rashid Khan soon chipped in with Babar Azam's wicket. Mujeeb was at it again, picking Haris Sohail in the 42nd over for his second wicket. With the score reading 194 for 4 then, Sarfraz Ahmed put on 22 for the next wicket before he was bowled off a full toss by Gulbadin Naib. Rashid Khan then struck twice in a hurry to remove Asif Ali and Mohammad Nawaz but Afghanistan came up against Malik, who had hit only two fours until the last over of the game to manoeuvre Pakistan ahead.
10 needed off the final over
First ball from Aftab is a dot and then it's a half-tracker. And Malik hits it for a six. It's all but sealed.
Asif goes too... Pakistan 6 down
Rashid Khan has another. He's gotten Asif out in the deep, when the batsman was trying to lift a ball too full. 32 needed 21; Malik still there. Afghanistan need to get him.
, he had conceded at 2.1rpo and picked 2 wickets with the googly.
. The other seven spinners who have featured in the powerplay, put together have bowled 19 overs.
Rebuilding..
Rahmat and Shahidi are putting up a fight, all the more commendable against Hasan Ali's fire. Pakistan have gone short to push the batsmen back in the crease. Let's see how this works.
Also, there's helluva lot spin.
Two in two for Nawaz
First Ihsanullah off the last ball of his last over and now Shahzad off the first ball of this. Enough spin to take the outside edge and skipper takes a fine catch behind the stumps. 32/2
Ihsanullah is out, finally
Two dropped chances in the last over and he's out in the next, after playing five dot balls. Nawaz gets him caught and bowled off a leading edge. 26/1 after 9 overs.
Two dropped chances
Pakistan have dropped two catches, off back to back balls and denied the debutant his maiden ODI wicket.....
Here's the ball-by-ball:
7.1 Shaheen Afridi to Ihsanullah, no run, dropped! Should have been caught by Zaman. Why was he going for it one-handed? Ihsanullah had flicked it towards mid-on and Zaman attempted for the catch, not once, not twice but thrice before he put it down. Afridi almost had his first ever ODI wicket
7.2 Shaheen Afridi to Ihsanullah, 1 run, another dropped catch! Got to feel for the youngster. This was a short delivery around the hips and Ihsanullah had top-edged it towards short fine leg. Usman stationed there was swift to move across and get his hands to it but his elbow hits the ground and he spills it out
Openers in check
Shaheen And Usman are bowling tight channels. Shahzad is obviously throwing his bat at everything but no dice so far. We'll see how this transpires. 21/0 after 6 overs.
Pakistan review .. and it's a no-ball
Usman hitting Shahzad's pad from over the wicket but he's stepped over the line, so nothing else matters. Pakistan don't lose the review.
Who's Shaeen Afridi?
"I was delighted that once I told my family I also want to take cricket seriously at the age of 14, they supported me and having a brother who has played a lot meant I knew about the pathways," he said in an interview to Cricbuzz during the U19 World Cup. Gaurav Joshi has more.
He's bowled his first over and looked nippy. bowling in the late 130s at the moment. Can be a touch fuller, if you want to critique at all.
Toss
Afghanistan bat...... Pakistan hand a debut to Shaheen Afridi, resting Mohammad Amir. Haris Sohail comes in for Faheem Ashraf. Afghanistan replace Shenwari with Najibullah Zadran.
Building up..
I had a cheap swipe at Pink Floyd planned with "We don't need no no-balls" for the India-Bangladesh game but here I am, covering the game in Abu Dhabi. I mean yeah India are playing Bangladesh in a game that'll have more eyeballs on it, but we can do all afford to be less important once in a while. And given how Afghanistan are metamorphosing in international cricket, good luck India.
And what does Rashid Khan have for us tonight? It's like a different menu everyday.
Preview
There is an air of intrigue surrounding the emerging cricket rivalry between Afghanistan and Pakistan. It's set in the backdrop of political tensions as well as the goodwill between the two cricketing nations that dates back to a few decades. In the 1990s, cricket became popular among the refugees of Afghanistan living in Peshawar, Pakistan. Pakistan was also the first Full Member of ICC who played an ODI versus Afghanistan during the 2011-12 season.
However, in the recent past, the relationship between the two boards have soured, especially in the wake of Afghanistan deciding not to play T20 friendlies against Pakistan last year due to a bomb blast in Kabul. Away from political tensions, the two teams will renew their rivalry when they take on each other in their Super Four clash of Asia Cup 2018 in Abu Dhabi. The two sides have had slightly contrasting fortunes in their path to the Super Four. Afghanistan posted convincing wins against both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to progress to the next stage, while Pakistan slid to a eight-wicket loss versus arch-rivals India.
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