Right arm beater Naseem Shah scored two decisive goals in the final as Pakistan beat Afghanistan with a brace in an intense Asian Super Cup 4 tie to knock India out of the tournament in Sharjah on Wednesday. Afghanistan controlled the game firmly until the last minute, reducing Pakistan to 118 goals with nine goals. But, Naseem has other plans when he gets there Fazalhaq Farooqi in two consecutive six-month matches that made both Afghanistan and India no longer count on the final stop. With two wins from multiple matches, both Pakistan and Sri Lanka have secured their places in the final of the tournament to be held on Sunday. India and Afghanistan will lock horns in their final Super 4 match on Thursday, which is said to be unimportant.
Pakistan had a rough time in their chase, losing to the captain Babar Azam (0) as soon as the batter suffers another defeat after being beaten by Fazalhaq Farooqi (3/31) LBW in the second half of the game.
To make matters worse for Pakistan, Fakhar Zaman (5) expired on the first serve of the fourth inning, due to a direct throw-in from Najibullah Zadran.
Afghanistan got the upper hand when Rashid Khan (2/25) trapped Mohammad Rizwan (20) in front of the bat with a peach of a sure serve hitting the tree in the middle, sending the hit his back leg. after throwing the ball just outside the tree stump.
On the foot after losing three keystrokes, Shadab Khan (36) attack the opposition and get dressed Mohammad Nabi for a six and one out of 12 to break the chains.
Shadab was at his best offensively as he sent a Mujeeb serve over the long line to go down the equation.
Fareed Ahmed (3/31) brought Afghanistan back into the game by smashing the 45th player stand that looked dangerous between Iftikhar Ahmed (30) and Shadab.
Ifitkhar pulled a short, slower delivery straight to Ibrahim Zadran because the hitter didn’t reach any heights.
Newcomer Mohammad Nawaz made his intentions clear and guided another short serve by Ahmed past the keeper to the third man’s line.
But Shadab looked ominous as he swept Rashid across the touchline to ease the pressure.
However, Rashid got the last laugh when he eliminated Shadab in the next phase with the thick hitter to Azmatullah Omarzai at the third man briefly.
But there is hardly any respite for Rashid like Asif Ali The tagline swept him six more in the next ball.
Two goals in the 18th minute after Fazalhaq Farooqi’s pitch tipped the balance of the match in favor of Afghanistan.
He first dismisses Nawaz and then defends Khushdil Shah because Pakistan has lost its plot.
Ahmed then cleans up Haris Rauf in the first delivery of the next when Pakistan reduced to 110 units for eight.
Fareed Ahmed made another significant hit for Pakistan in the penultimate ball of the 19th round, beating Asif Ali.
With the number 11 needed in the final, Naseem Shah showed his batting skills, defeating Fazalhaq Farooqi to regain 6 points to turn the match in favor of Pakistan.
Earlier, Pakistan showed a beautiful bowling screen to limit Afghanistan with a score of under 129 to 6. Afghanistan got off to a positive start after being sent to beat. Hazratullah Zazai (21) and wicket holder Rahmanullah Gurbanz (17) shared 36 runs for the opening frame.
After opening with a sedative, Afghanistan was free in the next match with Gurbanz fighting Mohammad Hasnain for the six points go back to get 16 runs.
Zazai went against his partner by finding the boundary twice the next time before Haris Rauf destroyed Gurbanz on the fifth serve of the fourth serve.
Despite dropping the wicket, Zazai continued his attack, hitting Hasnain for a boundary before dying on the fifth serve after the bowler merged with him with a slower serve.
Karim Janat (15) and Ibrahim Zadran (35 of 37) then managed to hold the ship as Afghanistan hit 72 for two of 10 overtakes.
With difficult runs to come, Janat tried to speed up the rounds but to no avail as he was overtaken by Fakhar Zaman in the 12th round while trying to pull off a slogan sweep.
Najibullah Zadran (10) started his swing in a curl, hitting Shadab Khan through the deep midwicket before the spinner had his last laugh.
Things took a turn for the worse for Afghanistan when Mohammad Nabi started the next ball with Naseem Shah shuffling his wooden frames for a first ball.
However, Ibrahim Zadran continued to play his attacks and beat Shadab over the maximum defense in the next table.
Promote
Zadran’s knock was cut short by Rauf (2/26) at the next table when the dense hitter served the ball behind the tree to Mohammad Rizwan.
In the final match, Rashid Khan (18 years old not going out) used his long handle to great effect and smashed Rauf with a score of six and four to get 10 runs and bring Afghanistan close to the 130 lane mark run.
Topics covered in this article
