Afghanistan scared Pakistan in the first group match of Super Four before the senior opponents primed through a narrow victory.
The Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed praised Afghanistan, admitted that they were shaken apart from acknowledging the strength of the opposition.
“We were shaken today,” Ahmed said.
“The way Imam, Babar and Shoaib played towards the end was fantastic, but to chase 250 in these conditions against the Afghanistan spinners who I think are the best in the world, you have to bat really well,” he said.
Pakistan were rescued and survived till the end by another splendid knock of veteran Shoaib Malik; he efforted through an unbeaten 43 ball fifty after young Imam-ul-Haq and Babar Azam stood for match defying 154 run second wicket stand.
Sarfraz said, “Being a senior player, when you’ve played enough cricket, you know when you already have a start, the goal is to bat till the 50th over. At one point the required rate was almost 10 but I kept telling myself to bat till the end because we had batsmen to hit the big shots later.”
However the Pakistan skipper said the win provided lots of confidence at the end before another heart throbbing Indo-Pak clash in the second stage of the Asia Cup.
