Nawaz rout Afghanistan to help Pakistan lift morale-boosting title

Mohammad Nawaz put up a brilliant all-round performance to lead Pakistan to a convincing 75-run win against Afghanistan in the final of the tri-series at Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

After scoring a gritty 25, Nawaz picked up his maiden five-wicket haul in the T20Is, which also featured a hat-trick. He obliterated the Afghanistan middle-order after Shaheen Afridi sent back opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz.

Afghanistan faltered in the chase of a modest total of 140, which suddenly started looking like a colossal target. Nawaz got rid of Ibrahim Zadran, Darwish Rasool and Azmatullah Omarzai within a span of three runs as Afghanistan batting collapsed like a pack of playing cards.

Nawaz found the chink in the armour of Afghanistan middle-order. He trapped Rasool in front of wicket before getting Omarzai caught by Haris off the last two deliveries of the sixth over.

Afghanistan were in deep trouble and needed a big partnership to keep their hopes alive. None of their batsmen could stand the onslaught of the Pakistan bowlers.

Afghanistan were struggling at 29/4, oblivious of what was in store for them. Nazaw was on a hat-trick and Zadran on strike.

A house-full crowd of 15000, held its breath as excitement was building up when Nawaz came in to bowl the first ball of his next over.

It was going to be a battle of nerves between Zadran and Nawaz, both keeping their eyes on the target. Nawaz flighted the ball in the air, dragging Zadran to play on the front foot.

In an attempt to reach out to the pitch of the ball, Zadran stretched forward, lifting his back foot off the crease and an agile Haris removed the bails as Nawaz completed his first hat-trick of his T20I career.

Three balls later, Nawaz caught Jannat plumb before getting rid of captain Rashid Khan, who put up a futile fight with a gritty 17, to complete his five-wicket haul.

Abrar Ahmed and Sufiyan Muqeem took two wickets each as Afghanistan was bundled out for the fourth lowest total in T20Is at Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

Earlier, Farooqi gave Afghanistan a fiery start with the dismissal of opener Sahibzada Farhan before spinners Rashid Khan and Noor ripped through the middle order.

Farhan’s woes with the bat continued as he failed to breach his highest score of 21 in the series.

Farhan had a miserable series as his scores in the last five games have been 21, 8, 18, 16 and 0. It can be a serious issue for Pakistan with a few days left for the Asia Cup. He might not be the first choice for opening the innings in the continental event.

Saim Ayub and Fakhar Zaman tried to revive the innings with a 49-run stand for the second wicket. They played diligently without taking too much risk.

Both the batsmen kept the scoreboard ticking with singles and doubles, hitting occasional boundaries.

The early dismissal of Farhan pushed Pakistan on the back foot from the beginning. Both Ayub and Zaman struggled for the runs as Afghanistan bowlers tightened the noose and choked the flow of the runs completely.

Every single was cheered and every boundary was celebrated. Zaman and Ayub took 13 runs off the sixth over, bowled by Nabi, to ease the pressure as Pakistan got a breather. Pakistan were 41/1 at the end of the power play.

When Pakistan looked set for a big total as they crawled to a laborious 49 Noor Ahmed struck to break the dangerous-looking partnership.

Noor dodged Ayub with a fuller delivery as the batsman failed to adjust to the extra bounce and ended up giving a simple catch to Rashid at short cover.

Ayub’s dismissal opened the floodgates for Afghanistan bowlers as Rashid also sprang into action to get rid of Zaman. He trapped Zaman as Pakistan lost two wickets within a span of two runs.

Hasan Nawaz tried to turn the table on Afghanistan as he tonked Rashid for a couple of six to add a quick-fire 19 runs for the fourth wicket before the experienced fought back to get him caught by Darwish Rasool.

Every time Pakistan tried to take a stride forward they were pegged back by two as Afghanistan managed to break the partnership when they started looking threatening.

Noor rattled the stumps of Mohammad Haris to heap more misery on struggling Pakistan. Pakistan were reduced to 72/5 from 48/1.

Pakistan were in a quagmire needed to be pulled out. They were facing the danger of getting out below a par score. Fahim Ashraf and Mohammad Nawaz revived the innings with a 40-run stand to propel the score to a respectable 140/8 as Rashid picked up three and Noor two.