Boys in blue have done it. History has been scripted. First time in the books of white ball bilateral tour, Pakistan suffered defeat at the hands of a much more focused, determined & organized bunch of afghans.
Farooqi was unplayable in the power play
Shadab called it right again at the toss & decided to bat again on a mysterious pitch. Farooqi dished out a dream power play spell. Not only did he get rid of Saim & Abdullah in the first over, but conceded just one run from the first two overs. On the contrary, Azmat had a forgettable first over where he was taken for 18 runs. His lengths were pretty much short & Haris made good use of it.
Poor power play had rocked Pakistan back
Naveen was brought in place of Omarzai & immediately it paid dividends. Haris who was starting to look threatening nicked one behind to Gurbaz while trying to slash the bowler through the point. After Pakistan lost three wickets in the power play, both Imad & Tayyab looked to consolidate the score board.
Wickets apiece by Karim & Rashid had kept Pakistan under check
Imad was taking calculative chances while Tayyab was rotating the strike. Mujeeb went wicketless in the first two overs & was proving to be expensive. Therefore Rashid decided to replace him with Karim Janat. Immediately this move got them a wicket. Tayyab in an attempt to hoic a slower one from Karim towards square leg boundary, was grabbed up gleefully by Omarzai. Azam Khan who went in next didn’t bother the scorers too much. Rashid trapped him plumb in front with his wrong one.
Partnership of Imad & Shadab took Pakistan to 130
With 63/5 after 11 overs, Pakistan was put into deep trouble. Shadab who had joined Imad looked to just nudge around for singles & doubles. Slowly they ramped up some pace towards the end. Naveen conceded 15 runs in the 20th over which includes a boundary from a no ball free hit. Pakistan ended up on a respectable score of 130/6 & vehemently looked chaseable on a better surface provided the top order curbed their fancy strokes.
Usman Ghani, who was brought in for this game, opened with Gurbaz & their job was to execute a decent enough power play without too much of a damage. Although Ghani was foxed by a slower cutter from Zaman, Afghanistan by then had already touched 30 on the scoreboard inside 4 overs.
Gurbaz & Ibrahim took the game deep
Gurbaz started off with a six in his typical aggressive self in the first over, changed gears & looked to rotate the strike with Ibrahim in the middle. Without taking an ounce of risk, both of them were quite comfortable with one’s & two’s till the 16th over when Gurbaz lost his wicket in the moment of madness. Ibrahim departed in the 18th over when he tried to slog Ihsanullah out of the park. Now the game was dependent on the old seasoned pair of Najib & Nabi.
Najib & Nabi returned the favor of two sixes to Naseem Shah
Afghanistan needed 29 from 16 & few hefty blows were enough to seal the game. Naseem Shah, who was brought in to bowl the 19th over, was greeted with a humongous six by Nabi over the square leg fence. And then, on the last ball of his spell, Najib launched him again over the long-on boundary for a maximum. Incidentally, couple of sixes by Naseem Shah in the last Asia Cup had thrashed the hopes of millions of afghans. Meanwhile these two sixes by & large had sealed the match & the series in Afghanistan’s favor. Naseem for a change was at the receiving end. That is why cricket is called a great leveler.
Afghanistan clinched the match & series in the final over
By the way, Zaman Khan had kept it tight in the final over in the first four balls. But his pitched up fifth delivery was edged uppishly by Najib towards the third man for a four & thus Afghanistan finished the victory rites. Fazalhaq Farooqi was adjudicated man of the match for his excellent power play spell. With an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the series, the third & final T20I is scheduled a few hours from now & we hope to see another competitive game of cricket in the best possible spirit.
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