In the second T20I match played in Sharjah, Fazalhaq Farooqi and Najibullah Zadran led Afghanistan to a seven-wicket victory over Pakistan. With this victory, Afghanistan clinched a hard-fought series.
Afghanistan defeated a team in the top six of the ICC rankings with a match to spare for the first time. Afghanistan’s bowling unit, headed by Farooqi (2/19), limited Pakistan to 130/6. As Shadab Khan’s Pakistan elected to bat, Farooqi struck thrice in the opening over.
Afghanistan wins the t20 Series against Pakistan
The left-arm bowler bowled Saim Ayub and Abdullah Shafique with consecutive no-balls. Mohammad Haris and Tayyab Tahir failed in their bid to restart Pakistan’s innings. When Naveen-ul-Haq eliminated Haris for 15 points, Karim Janat returned Tayyab for 13 points.
Imad Wasim (64* from 57 balls) and Shadab (32 from 25 balls) fought hard to give Pakistan’s bowlers something to defend. Afghanistan lost their opener Usman Ghani (7) early in their reply, but Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran continued to frustrate Pakistani bowlers.
The 56-run partnership between Gurbaz and Zadran ended when Naseem Shah ran out Gurbaz for 44. As Ihsanullah dismissed Zadran (38), one brought two. When Pakistan believed they had made a comeback, Najibullah and Mohammad Nabi opened fire as the asking run rate skyrocketed. Najibullah (23* off 12) and Nabi (14* off 9) won the game for Afghanistan with the fifth delivery of the last over.
In the 3rd Twenty20 International at Sharjah, Afghanistan will play Pakistan.
The captain of Afghanistan, Rashid Khan, remarked, “Excellent work with the ball, and then we took it deep and scored. This pitch is normally a 150-160 wicket, but the Pakistan-Afghanistan match is a pressure match, hence it is now 125-130. 130 was a respectable sum.
“We did our best to go in-depth and complete it. The plan was to get there and ensure that you accept responsibility. We have guys like Nabi and Najib who can complete it. It was crucial to have wickets in hand.”
