Pakistan vs Afghanistan 3rd ODI preview: Pakistan will be eyeing a clean sweep when they face Afghanistan in the third and final ODI in Colombo on Saturday.
Pakistan won the toss, and opted to bat in what is effectively a dead rubber, but a crucial game for both teams in getting their combination right ahead of the Asia Cup that starts four days from now.
Babar Azam’s men clinched the three-match series with a nervy one-wicket victory on Friday after being set a challenging 301 to win. In what was a near-repeat of their thrilling Asia Cup encounter in Sharjah last year, it was tail-ender Naseem Shah who held his nerve in a tight situation yet again to guide his team over the line, and he once again ended up hitting the winning runs off left-arm pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi.
In the Asia Cup encounter last year, Shah managed to finish things off in style with two consecutive sixes in the final over of their chase of 130. This time around, there was even more drama in store with Farooqi running Shadab Khan out at the non-striker’s end at the start of the final over before Shah finished the job with two fours, the second of which was the winning shot in the penultimate ball of the match.
Earlier, Rahmanullah Gurbaz had struck a majestic 151 and forged a 227-run opening partnership — Afghanistan’s highest opening stand in ODIs — with Ibrahim Zadran (80). Though the Afghans lost wickets in a cluster after the pair was dismissed, their contributions ensured they ended up going past 300 in the end.
Pakistan also got their chase off to a strong start thanks to contributions from Imam-ul-Haq (91), who narrowly missed out on his hundred, and skipper Babar Azam (53). Later Shadab Khan came to their rescue after they lost five wickets for just 41 runs to get reduced to 211/6, collecting three fours and a six in his 35-ball 48 to bring Pakistan back in the chase and take the game to the very final over before Shah’s epic finish.
Teams:
Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Gulbadin Naib, Riaz Hassan, Shahidullah, Mohammad Nabi, Fareed Ahmad, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi
Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Agha Salman, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Wasim
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