Sports Desk :
Pakistan found it tough to outsmart Afghanistan as it lost 3 wickets for 101 runs as the close of 15 overs.
Till the filing of this reports Pakistan needed 51 runs from 35 deliveries. Afghanistan created a heavy pressure by a controlled bowling attack.
Courtesy of an unbeaten 35 each from Gulbadin and Mohammad Nabi, and their unbeaten 71-run stand, Afghanistan posted 147/6 in 20 overs. Earlier, we witnessed one of the most entertaining powerplays of the tournament so far. While Afghanistan blasted 49 in the first 6 overs, Pakistan managed to bag four wickets. Shaheen Shah Afridi, Imad Wasim, Hasan Rauf, and Hasan Ali bagged a wicket each. Wasim bagged one more wicket as Afghanistan, at the halfway stage, stuttered to 65/5. In the next five overs, the Afghans could only manage to add 28 runs, while losing Najib to Shadab Khan. Unbeaten Afghanistan, led by Mohammad Nabi, will bat first against Pakistan. Just like AFG, Babar’ Azam PAK are also unbeaten and interestingly, both sides remain unchanged from their previous fixtures.
Meanwhile, after defeating giants like India and New Zealand, the Men in Green will be full of confidence and will be looking to continue their winning
Babar Azam, this game should be of moderate difficulty for them. While Afghanistan haven’t faced a strong team yet in the tournament, they do have Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Hazratullah Zazai and Mohammad Shahzad in their camp. All these players can help change games in a matter of overs.
Earlier, Afghanistan skipper Mohammad Nabi won the toss and elected to bat against Pakistan in a Super 12 Group 2 match, on Friday. Both the teams are entering into the contest unbeaten. Pakistan beat India and New Zealand in their first two matches, while Afghanistan won against Scotland in their tournament-opener.
Afghanistan XI: Hazratullah Zazai, Mohammad Shahzad(w), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi(c), Asghar Afghan, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Karim Janat, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mujeeb Ur Rahman.
Pakistan XI: Mohammad Rizwan(w), Babar Azam(c), Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi.
