Afghanistan cricket team impresses in patches despite whitewash

Afghanistan lost the three-match ODI series against Pakistan on August 26 (Saturday) but not before putting up an impressive performance in the final two games.

After having been thrashed by 142 runs in the first match after being blown away for 59 in Hambantota (Sri Lanka, the neutral venue), the Afghans came back and hammered 300/5 in the second ODI. Rahmanullah Gurbaz scored 151 off 151 balls. But Pakistan chased down the total in 49.5 overs to win by one wicket.

There was no one big scorer for Pakistan, but they managed to pull it off thanks to Shadab Khan’s 48 towards the end.

Pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi impressed with 3/69 and Mohammad Nabi took 2/46 and at one point in time they had Pakistan on the mat at 211/6 and then at 258/7. But the Pakistani tail wagged.

Action for the third match shifted to Colombo where the pitch was different and less batting-friendly.

Afghans did well with the ball to restrict Pakistan to 268/8 in 50 overs. Gulbadin Naib took 2/36 in nine overs.

However, their batsmen floundered. At one point, the Afghans were 97 for seven before spinner Mujeeb Ur Rehman’s 64 off 37 balls (5x6s, 5x4s) took the team beyond 200. They were all out for 209 in 48.4 overs.   

Both the teams will now play the Asia Cup, which is being jointly hosted by Sri Lanka and Pakistan and begins on August 30.  

Brief scores

1st ODI: 201 all out in 47.1 overs (Imam-ul-Haq 61, Shadab Khan 39, Iftikhar Ahmed 30, Mujeeb Ur Rehman 3/33, Mohammad Nabi 2/34, Rashid Khan 2/42) beat Afghanistan 59 all out in 19.2 overs (Haris Rauf 5/18, Shaheen Afridi 2/9) by 142 runs

2nd ODI: Afghanistan 300/5 in 50 overs (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 151, Ibrahim Zadran 80, Shaheen Afridi 2/58) lost to Pakistan 302/9 in 49.5 overs (Imam-ul-Haq 91, Babar Azam 53, Shadab Khan 48, Fazalhaq Farooqi 3/69, Mohammad Nabi 2/46) by one wicket

3rd ODI: Pakistan 268/8 in 50 overs (Mohammad Rizwan 67, Babar Azam 60, Agha Salman 38, Mohammad Nawaz 30, Gulbadin Naib 2/36, Fareed Ahmad 2/70) beat Afghanistan 209 all out in 48.4 overs (Mujeeb Ur Rehman 64, Shahidullah Kamal 37, Riaz Hassan 34, Shadab Khan 3/42, Faheem Ashraf 2/43, Shaheen Afridi 2/31, Mohammad Nawaz 2/45)

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