Afghanistan defeated Pakistan for the first time in ODIs and did it at the biggest stage of them all, in the ongoing ICC World Cup 2023 on October 23 in Chennai. This is Afghanistan’s second win in this tournament after England.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam won the toss and chose to bat first. He also top-scored with 74, while Abdullah Shafique made 58 runs. At one time Afghanistan looked like restricting Pakistan to under 250 runs. But 40 runs each from Shadab Khan and Iftikhar Ahmed pushed the final total to 282/7 in 50 overs.
Noor Ahmad, in his World Cup debut, picked 3/49, while Naveen Ul Haq took two wickets.
Not many thought that Afghanistan would chase this total down in front of world-class bowling attack of Pakistan. But openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (65) and Ibrahim Zadran (87) added 130 runs in just 21 overs.
Then Rahmat Shah (77*) and captain Hashmatullah Shahidi (48*) handled the pressure well after Zadran’s wicket and took Afghanistan home by 8 wickets and one over to spare.
Pakistan had themselves to blame for poor fielding and uninspired bowling by their spinners. Usama Mir, Shadab Khan, and Iftikhar Ahmed failed to pick a single wicket on the Chennai track which helps spinners.
Now Pakistan has lost three matches on a trot, while Afghanistan has two wins in 5 matches.
The cricket fraternity wholeheartedly praised the Afghanistan team for such a brilliant win over Pakistan.
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