Afghanistan Vs Pakistan Highlights, T20I Tri-series, Match 4: Spinners Share Six Wickets As AFG Beat PAK By 18 Runs

Hello and welcome to the live coverage of the fourth match of the UAE Tri-series between Afghanistan and Pakistan at Sharjah Cricket Stadium, UAE.

Afghanistan: Rashid Khan (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Darwish Rasooli, Sediqullah Atal, Azmatullah Omarzai, Karim Janat, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Mohammad Ishaq, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Allah Ghazanfar, Noor Ahmad, Farid Malik, Abdullah Ahmadzai, Fazalhaq Farooqi.

Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Haris (wk), Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Agha (c), Faheem Ashraf, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Wasim, Salman Mirza, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem.

Afghanistan elected to bat first against Pakistan

Pakistan Playing XI: Fakhar Zaman, Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Mohammad Haris (wk), Salman Ali Agha (c), Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Sufiyan Muqeem, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi

Afghanistan Playing XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Sediqullah Atal, Ibrahim Zadran, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Karim Janat, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan (c), Fazalhaq Farooqi, Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar, Noor Ahmad

Shaheen Shah Afridi opened the first over and gave four runs with a wide against opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Sediqullah Atal.

After getting smoked for a first maximum of the inning, Saim Ayub returned back and knocket out Rahmanullah Gurbaz with abeautifully bowled half-tracker. Gurbaz launching onto it didn't time it well and handed a catch at deep square leg to Hasan Nawaz.

Ibrahim Zadran hammered a boundary and a maximum to Haris Rauf, who tried to test him with short balls but got penalised. Meanwhile, Ayub on the other end continued to bolw economically.

Afghanistan crawled to 44/1 after seven overs, with Saim Ayub delivering another tidy over that went for just six runs. Mohammad Nawaz in the next leaked 11 runs, as Atal with a glorious lifted drive punished him for a maximum.

Half of the inning is done and Afghanistan have recovered well from 10/1 to 73/1. Meanwhile, Atal is anchoring the inning with 32 runs and Zadran with his technique well-placed is playing beautifully

Sediqullah Atal continues to take chances and find boundaries while Pkaistan search for wickets continue. Saim Ayub, who took the only wicket finished his spell with 1/18 in four overs. Meanwhile, Rauf and other have been expensive leaking boundaries.

Afghanistan turned the tide with a massive 20-run over, pushing their partnership to a commanding 106 as Sediqullah Atal reaches his half-century. Pakistan’s bowlers looked out of answers during the assault, and with the momentum firmly against them, skipper has turned to Shaheen Shah Afridi in hopes of breaking the stand.

Faheem Ashraf finally provided Pakistan the breakthrough, dismissing Atal with a clever length delivery outside off. The batter’s mistimed swing found Hasan Nawaz at long-on, who completed a fine sliding catch. Atal had been losing momentum, and the dismissal felt inevitable at this stage.

Faheem Ashraf turned the game on its head with a brilliant double strike in the same over. First, he dismissed Omarzai with a return catch after a mistimed slog, before removing Ibrahim, who lofted a slower wide delivery straight to Mohammad Nawaz at deep mid-wicket. Pakistan’s fightback gathered steam as Afghanistan lost two key wickets in quick succession.

Faheem Ashraf produced a career-best spell of 4 for 27 to power Pakistan’s fightback and restrict Afghanistan to 169 in their 20 overs. After opting to bat, Afghanistan recovered from the early loss of Rahmanullah Gurbaz (8) as Sediqullah Atal (64) and Ibrahim Zadran (65) stitched together a fluent century stand, pushing Pakistan’s bowlers on the back foot.

Both reached their fifties, but Faheem’s double breakthrough in the same over, followed by the dismissal of Azmatullah Omarzai (4), halted Afghanistan’s charge. Despite Rashid Khan’s late cameo of 8* off 4, Pakistan’s bowlers closed out well, ensuring the total stayed below the 170-mark.

After eight runs opening over, Fazalhaq Farooqi strike in the first delivery to remove to dismiss dangerous Saim Ayub on golden duck.

Top bowling from Fazalhaq Farooqi and he sends back both the Pakistani openers. A good start for Afghanistan so far. But they do not have a lot to defend, so they will have to be tight with their control. Fakhar Zaman is in the middle so things can change very quickly.

Mohammad Nabi struck at the right time, dismissing Fakhar Zaman to end a promising stand and give Afghanistan the breakthrough. The wicket also brought up a special milestone for Nabi, as he became only the second Afghan bowler after Rashid Khan to reach 100 wickets in T20Is.

Noor Ahmad made an instant impact right after the drinks break, striking with his very first ball. It was a poor full toss down the leg side, but Hasan Nawaz miscued an attempted sweep, only to top-edge it straight to short fine leg for a simple catch.

Mohammad Nabi tightened Afghanistan’s grip with his second wicket, removing Haris who mistimed a pull to deep mid-wicket where Rasooli held on safely. Pakistan are now six down and sliding, with Noor Ahmad conceding just seven in the following over. The chase looks tougher as they still require 77 off 42 balls.

Rashid Khan turned the game firmly in Afghanistan’s favour with back-to-back strikes, first ending Mohammad Nawaz’s laboured stay with a simple catch at short third man before cleaning up Shaheen Afridi for a golden duck. Pakistan now find themselves in deep trouble as the collapse continues.

Afghanistan sealed a fine 18-run win to level the series, successfully defending 169/5 against Pakistan. The bowlers combined brilliantly, with Rashid Khan, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Mohammad Nabi, and Noor Ahmad taking two wickets apiece to choke Pakistan’s chase and avenge their earlier defeat in the series.