Asif Ali of Pakistan celebrates with batting partner Shadab Khan after victory in the Cricket Twenty20 World Cup match between Pakistan and Afghanistan in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Friday, October 29, 2021.
captain Babar Azmi Pakistan completed a hat-trick of T20 World Cup victory with a five-wicket win over Afghanistan in a Super 12 Group 2 match here on Friday as Asif Ali scored 51 runs while Asif Ali hit four sixes in the first over.
Captain Mohammad Nabi and Gulbadin Naib scored an unbeaten 76 for six to take Afghanistan to a competitive score of 147 for six.
Pakistan chased down the target in 19 overs, a win that cemented their top spot in the points table and increased their chances of semi-finals with Minoan Scotland and Namibia.
His team needed 24 runs in the last two overs, Asif Ali (25 off 7 balls) completed the task in the 19th over with four sixes off Karim Jannat.
Pakistan lost Mohammad Rizwan (8) to Mujeeb ur Rehman early in their chase but Azam and Fakhar Zaman (30) kept the innings under control with a partnership of 63 runs.
Mujeeb was an exceptional forward for Afghanistan as he conceded only 14 runs in his four-over spell but Pakistan’s batsmen scored runs on other bowlers.
World’s top leg-spinner Rashid Khan dashed Afghanistan’s hopes but by the time he came to bowl, Pakistan had scored 72 runs in 10 overs.
His magic was at work though as soon as he got rid Mohd Hafeezy (10) For completing a century of wickets in T20 Internationals.
He conceded only 26 runs in his four overs and most of the Pakistan batsmen played him carefully.
Shoaib Malik (19) however launched Rashid for a big six in his last over in which Azam was dismissed by Naveen-ul-Haq.
However, on the last ball the Pakistan captain was dismissed for a googly.
Azam had only four shots in his 47-ball innings as he mostly moved the ball around.
Malik flashed a wideish delivery from Naveen, giving a simple catch to Mohammad Shahzad, when he was left behind.
Asif was at the crease and did not let his team down.
Earlier, a massive Pakistan attack dominated the proceedings, but Nabi (35) and Naib (35) picked up the pace with their massive efforts under pressure to prevent it from becoming a one-sided contest.
He added 71 runs in 7.
1 over 43 came in the last three overs.
It all started when he scored 21 runs in the 17th over Hassan Ali.
Together they hit 10 fours.
However, initially Shaheen Afridi’s control of the yorker, Haris Rauf’s variation and Imad Wasim’s control and Shadab Khan Tested Afghanistan batsmen who opted to bat.
Fast bowler Afridi put the pressure on the Afghan batsmen straight in the first over with the quickness of his toe and left-arm spinner Wasim did it with another tight over upfront.
Dot-ball pressure improved Hazratullah Zazai (0), who went behind Wasim and caught Haris Rauf.
Mohammad Shahzad (8) picked up Afridi’s overpitch delivery in cover area to get the team’s first boundary, but could not clear mid-on with a ball later and went back to the dug-out.
Realizing that Afridi would find it difficult to score runs, former captain Asghar Afghan (10) and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (10) targeted Wasim and collected 17 runs from his next over, both hitting him for sixes.
However, Rauf cuts Afghan’s stay while Gurbaz is sent back by Hasan Ali.
Afghan’s younger brother Jannat (15) came to the crease and, along with Najibullah Zadran (22), had the responsibility of leading his team, which was 39 for four inside the powerplay overs.
It kept getting worse for Afghanistan as neither the runs came at a good pace nor did they keep losing wickets.
Jannat and Zadran were dismissed by Wasim and Shadab respectively, leaving a difficult task for Nabi to score enough runs on the board for the defense, which he did with Naib.
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