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Afghanistan created history by beating Pakistan for the first time in ODIs, on October 24, 2023. They achieved this feat against the Asian giants at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Batting first, Pakistan put up an impressive score of 282. A target of 283 was a stiff challenge for the Afghan team, who had never beaten Pakistan in an ODI game.
The Afghan openers, Ibrahim Zadran (87) and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (65) set the tone straight for a historic chase adding 130 runs for the first wicket. Rahmat Shah thereafter played a mature unbeaten knock of 77 and guided his team to a win by a margin of eight wickets with an over to spare.
On that note, here is a look at the top five expert reactions to Afghanistan's epic win over Pakistan in Chennai:
#1 Dinesh Karthik-
The Indian keeper-batter, who is a part of the ICC commentary team for the 2023 World Cup, posted on X after Afghanistan's epic win:
Karthik rightly tweeted that Afghanistan's win over Pakistan is not an upset but an uprise.
In recent times, Afghanistan have made rapid strides in international cricket and have challenged top nations in limited-overs cricket and are definitely a force to reckon with in the future.
#2 Harsha Bhogle-
After Afghanistan's emphatic win against Pakistan, Harsha Bhogle took to X and praised the Afghan batters for an outstanding run chase.
Bhogle praised the Afghan openers- Gurbaz and Zadran- for the manner in which they went around in the run chase. Bhogle also heaped praises on Afghan's number three batter Rahmat Shah for his calmness and maturity in a difficult run-chase.
#3 Irfan Pathan-
The former Indian cricketer, who was on commentary duties during the Afghanistan-Pakistan match, broke into a bhangra dance with Rashid Khan post Afghanistan's win over Pakistan.
Pathan praised the Afghan team on X stating that the better team on the day won the match, and further congratulated Afghanistan for their massive win.
#4 Misbah-ul Haq-
The former Pakistan skipper did not mince words after Pakistan's defeat against Afghanistan. Misbah, while talking on Pakistan news channel 'A Sports', said:
"Clearly, the spin bowling quality of Afghan bowlers was much higher. Our batters were made to earn their runs. Their batters were easily picking up runs against the spinners. It was a matter of ability, confidence, everything. There were no easy deliveries. Rashid Khan didn’t end up among wickets, but every ball he bowled today it looked like something could happen".
Clearly, the former Pakistan skipper was disappointed after witnessing Pakistan's lackluster performance against Afghanistan in Chennai.
#5 Wasim Jaffer-
Afghanistan may have lost all their previous seven ODIs against Pakistan, but they did run Pakistan close on three of the seven encounters and went down in the 100th over of the game.
Former Indian opener Wasim Jaffer posted his views on X after the historic game and stated that the win is not an upset. He further acknowledged the fact that the Afghanistan team had come close to beating Pakistan in recent times. He further praised the top four Afghan batters for the way they chased the stiff target set up by Pakistan.
