Afghanistan record another upset at World Cup, beat Pakistan by eight wickets
Afghanistan and Pakistan players greet each other at the end of their Cricket World Cup match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Monday. AFP
Afghanistan created another big upset at the Cricket World Cup as it thumped struggling Pakistan by eight wickets on Monday to win two games at the same edition of the tournament for the first time.
After stunning England eight days ago, the ninth-ranked Afghans celebrated only their third ever win at the World Cup, the other coming against Scotland in 2015 in their first appearance.
An aggressive 130-run opening stand between Ibrahim Zadran (87) and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (65) orchestrated Afghanistan’s 286-2 in 49 overs against out-of-sort Pakistan's pace and spin bowling.
Rahmat Shah and captain Hashmatullah Shahidi built on the solid first-wicket stand by sharing an unbeaten 96-run third-wicket stand. Shah remained unbeaten on 77 while Shahidi scored 48 not out as he raised the victory with a boundary against Shaheen Afridi at square leg.
Pakistan, which won the toss and elected to bat, made 282-7 against a spin-heavy quartet with captain Babar Azam (74) and Abdullah Shafique (58) scoring half centuries.
It was Pakistan’s first loss in an ODI against Afghanistan, which bettered its previous highest successful ODI chase of 274 made against United Arab Emirates nine years ago.
A third successive pushed Pakistan into a must-win situation for a place in the semifinals with only four points from five matches. Afghanistan also kept its slim hopes alive with four points in as many games as moved into the No. 6 spot, behind Pakistan on net run-rate, leaving England at the bottom of the table.
Earlier, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam hit a stylish half century to guide his team to a fighting 282-7 in their World Cup match against Afghanistan in Chennai on Monday.
Azam's 92-ball 74 was ably supported by opener Abdullah Shafique's 75-ball 58 while Shadab Khan and Iftikhar Ahmed then scored a valuable 40 runs apiece.
On a spin-friendly Chidambaram Stadium pitch, Afghanistan fielded four slow bowlers with 18-year-old left-armer Noor Ahmad grabbing a career best 3-49 on his World Cup debut.
Shadab added a rapid 73 runs with Iftikhar for the sixth wicket as Pakistan added 61 in the last five overs, with Shadab falling off the last delivery.
Iftikhar cracked four sixes and two boundaries while Shadab's innings featured a six and a four.
Pakistan enjoyed a strong start with a 56-run stand before Azmatullah Omarzai dismissed Imam-ul Haq for 17 in the 11th over.
Ahmad struck his first blow when he trapped opener Abdullah Shafique for 58 in the 23rd over. Shafique hit two sixes and five boundaries in his third half century of the World Cup.
Ahmad then dismissed Pakistan's top scorer in the World Cup Mohammad Rizwan, caught sweeping in his next over to leave Pakistan on 120-3. Azam also fell to Ahmad when the Pakistan skipper played a tennis-like shot to a delivery that was seemingly out of his reach, ending up straight into the hands of Mohammad Nabi at extra cover.
Azam hit four boundaries and a six and added 43 with Saud Shakeel who made 25. Afghan spinner Rashid Khan went wicket-less in his ten overs, conceding 41 runs while pacer Naveen-ul-Haq took 2-52.
Afghanistan's highest successful ODI chase is the 274 they achieved against the United Arab Emirates in Dubai nine years ago.
Pakistan brought in Shadab in place of Mohammad Nawaz who went down with a fever on the morning of the game while Ahmad came for Afghanistan in place of fast bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi.
Pakistan went into the game with two wins and two defeats from four matches while Afghanistan had win against three losses.
Brief scores: Pakistan 282-7 in 50 overs (Babar Azam 74, Abdullah Shafique 58, Shadab Khan 40, Iftikhar Ahmed 40; Noor Ahmad 3-49)
Pakistan: Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (captain), Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Usama Mir, Shaheen Afridi, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf.
Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (captain), Azmatullah Omarzai, Ikram Alikhil, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmed, Naveen-ul-Haq.
AFP / AP
