Afghanistan creates history in Sharjah by registering their first ever victory over arch rivals Pakistan by six wickets in a T20 international. The boys came close to beating Pakistan on so many occasions before but couldn’t cross the line.
Nabi used all his experience to master a clinical chase
All the fans were eagerly waiting for this day & finally it arrived through the experienced hands of Mohammad Nabi who not only bowled an impressive spell of 2/12 in 3 overs but also anchored the innings till the end with a run a ball invaluable 38. Now that Afghanistan moved 1-0 up in the series, the 3 match T20I series between the neighbors have spiced up for a thrilling finish.
For a change, Afghanistan was asked to bowl first & it worked wonders
Afghanistan never likes to chase against a formidable opposition. I feel in all their previous encounters against Pakistan, Afghanistan batted first. But that pattern was broken yesterday when Pakistan chose to bat first after winning the toss. All the bowlers bowled in perfect areas. Never gave away extra runs. Except for a few lapses at the end, the ground fielding was pretty impressive.
Omarzai grabbed two key catches besides a steady spell of fast bowling
Azmatullah besides taking the wicket of Asad Shafique who was adjudicated plumb in front of the stumps, took two very difficult catches of the in form opener Mohd Harris & the Pak skipper Shadab Khan. Farooqi dropped a skier of Imad Wasim in the 17th but redeemed himself quickly in the next over by uprooting the top of middle stump.
All the bowlers contributed with wickets & that broke the back of Pakistan
Every bowler chipped in with wickets. Naveen was the most expensive of the lot but not before packing Saim Ayub back on the last ball of the power play when the latter failed to execute his favorite lap shot. Rashid as usual was disciplined with his lengths & straightaway rewarded with a wicket in the first ball when Tayyab lobbed a catch back to Khan trying to defend him.
Mujeeb impressed all with a tight spell of 2/9
After ages, Mujeeb looked good. He was the most economical of all and finished a tight spell of 2/9 off his 4 overs. In the hindsight, Rahman was really lucky when Azam softly lobbed an easy catch to mid-on trying to flick a ball which had pitched outside the leg stump. He also got the better of Shadab Khan when the batter tried to hit him over the extra cover, only to find the safe hands of a sliding Azmatullah running in from the boundary.
A clinical display of bowling had meant that Pakistan was restricted to its all time fifth lowest score of 92. Although the pitch was doing some kind of tricks, a stable start was needed to chase the score down. Gurbaz & Ibrahim negotiated the early threat of Naseem & Zaman quite successfully in the first 4 overs scoring 23 runs.
In spite of giving a steady start in the first four overs, the top order threw it away
Ihsanullah was introduced in the fifth over and straightaway dismissed both Ibrahim & Gulbadin in the space of three balls. The top order might have forgotten the fact that Ihsan was the best bowler of PSL. They should’ve seen a bit of him before trying to launch him for runs. The role of Ibrahim is to anchor the innings. He shouldn’t try to be over aggressive & must leave that role for his partners.
Gurbaz as usual lost his cool in the sixth and was dismissed trying to pull Naseem through the mid-on. Karim Janat who joined Nabi after the dismissal of Gurbaz didn’t last long & got bowled to a darted-in delivery from Imad. Karim was finding it hard to read Imad & premeditated a sweep to a full pitched delivery.
Cool & calm demeaner of Nabi & Najib steadied the ship & mastered the chase clinically
When it seemed that Pakistan had moved right back into the game, Nabi found a stable partner in Najib. They both waited for the loose balls to cash in & otherwise focused on accumulating singles & doubles. Nabi changed his gears towards the end and hit a few boundaries & a solitary six from Ihsanullah to close the game in favor of Afghanistan.
Afghanistan must use a specialist batter at number three instead of Naib
There are few areas where the team management must focus. They’re trying to fit Gulbadin at 3 which is a specialist spot. Therefore someone like Usman Ghani might serve the purpose if given an opportunity in the top three. Nabi coming at 4 is a wise decision only if he can dish out consistent performances. It’s quite clear that Rashid is comfortable going with six bowlers. Further, Karim Janat is available as the seventh backup bowler. This strategy to use Gulbadin at number 3 is already proving to be a failed experiment since the last series against UAE. Besides Naveen-Ul-Haq has to improve his batting otherwise our tail looks long & depleted.
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