World Cup 2019: Pakistan seal thrilling 3-wicket win over Afghanistan

Pakistan defeated Afghanistan by three wickets in a thrilling encounter played at Headingley, Leeds played on Saturday. With this win, Pakistan have kept their hopes of reaching the semi-finals alive at the World Cup 2019.

Afghanistan captain Gulbadin Naib won the toss and decided to bat first. It was a flying start by the Afghan openers as Naib and Rahmat Shah added 27 runs.

But Shaheen Shah Afridi dismissed Naib and Hashmatullah Shaidi in successive deliveries to put the brakes on the scoring. At the end of 10 overs, Afghanistan were 46 for 2.

After the power play, Imad Wasim struck by dismissing Rahmat Shah for 35. Asghar Afghan then came to the crease and played with positive intent, putting pressure on the Pakistani bowlers.

Ikram Khil and Asghar Afghan added 64 runs for the 4th wicket before Shahdab Khan dismissed Afghan for 42. The Pakistani bowlers kept it tight from there on and did not allow the Afghanistan batsmen to score runs easily.

Najibullah Zadran and Mohammad Nabi added 42 runs for the 6th wicket, and Afghanistan finished with 227 for 9 at the end of 50 overs.

Chasing the target of 228, Pakistan got off to a terrible start Fakhar Zaman was dismissed by Mujeeb Ur Rehman off the second ball of the innings. But Imam-ul-Haq and Babar Azam steadied the innings, and at the end of 10 overs Pakistan were 49 for 1.

After the power play, Imam and Azam continued to show their class before Mohammad Nabi struck by dismissing Imam for 36. Afghanistan were well and truly into the game when Azam departed too.

Mohammad Hafeez and Haris Sohail then added 40 runs for the 5th wicket before Mujeeb got the wicket of Hafeez for 19. The Afghanistan spinners controlled the run flow and picked wickets at regular intervals.

After the fall of the sixth wicket, Imad Wasim and Shadab Khan struggled against the Afghanistan spinners. But Wasim took 18 runs off the 46th over which gave some momentum to Pakistan.

Shadab was run out for 11, after he an Wasim added 50 runs for the 7th wicket.

Wahab Riaz played some lovely shots off Rashid Khan which tilted the tide in favour of Pakistan. Wasim hit the winning runs and helped Pakistan register a thrilling 3-wicket win with 2 balls to spare.

Pakistan now move to 4th position in the points table but still need to win their match against Bangladesh to have any hope of qualifying.

Brief scores: Pakistan 230 for 7 in 49.4 overs (Imad Wasim 49*, Mohammad Nabi 2/23, Mujeeb Ur Rahman 2/34) beat Afghanistan 227 for 9 in 50 overs (Asghar Afghan 42, Najibullah Zadran 42, Shaheen Shah Afridi 4/47) by 3 wickets.

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