Cricket Highlights, 25 Mar: Afghanistan vs Pakistan (1st T20I)

Afghanistan vs Pakistan (1st T20I)

Pakistan was clearly seemed to feel the lack of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan in batting in the 1st T20I against Afghanistan. Shadab Khan’s team batted first in Sharjah bowling conditions and was bowled out for just 92 runs. Pakistan’s bowlers fought hard with such a low capital but eventually lost by 6 wickets.

Afghanistan won against Pakistan for the first time in international cricket, let alone in T20Is. With this victory, the Afghans took a 1-0 lead in the 3-match T20I series.

Pakistan and Afghanistan met in the first T20I match at Sharjah in UAE on Friday (March 24). After winning the toss, Pakistan managed to score 92 runs by losing 9 wickets in the scheduled 20 overs due to the controlled bowling of the Afghan bowlers. In response, Rashid Khan’s team reached the port of victory with 13 balls to spare.

Although after going down to chase this easy target, Afghanistan was under pressure early on. They lost 4 wickets to get 45 runs. However, Mohammad Nabi and Najibullah Zadran took the helm of the team at that time. Both of them left the field building up a partnership of 53 runs from 49 balls for the 5th wicket to ensure the victory of the team.

Nabi was unbeaten with 38 runs off 38 balls and Najibullah scored 17 runs off 23 balls. Afghanistan lost their first wicket at the team’s 23 runs. Opener Ibrahim Zadran returned to the dressing room with 9 runs. After that, the Afghan team was under pressure when Gulbadin Naib got out without adding any runs. The pressure increased when Rahmanullah Gurbaz (16) got out on the 3rd ball of the 5th over.

Imad Wasim dismissed Karim Janat (7) for 45 runs. Then Pakistan got some control of the match. But Rashid’s team won against Pakistan with the pair of Nabi and Najibullah. Pacer Ihsanullah took the maximum number of 2 wickets for Pakistan. Besides, Imad Wasim and Naseem Shah got one wicket each.

Earlier, Pakistan saw a collapse in the batting order at the beginning of batting first. Which started with Mohammad Haris (6). He was dismissed by Fazalhaq Farooqi for the team’s 17 runs. Abdullah Shafique, who went to bat at number three, got out for zero runs.

Anointed Saim Ayub dreamed of playing a big innings but was bowled by Naveen-ul-Haq after scoring 17 runs in 15 balls. Another debutant Tayyab Tahir scored 16 runs. After that wicket-keeper batsman, Azam Khan also departed for zero runs and Shadab Khan’s team lost 5 wickets for 41 runs.

Then Shadab and Imad tried to form a partnership but did not succeed. Mujeeb Ur Rahman dismissed Shadab for 12 runs. However, left-handed batsman Imad scored the highest 18 runs for Pakistan on this day where he had to spend 32 balls to make these runs.

Almost everyone bowled brilliantly for the Afghans. Compared to that, Naveen-ul-Haq, the right-arm pacer, was a bit costly. He gave away 19 runs in 2 overs. Apart from Azmatullah Omarzai, everyone else had a bowling economy below four.

Fazalhaq Farooqi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, and Mohammad Nabi took the highest number of two wickets each for Afghanistan. Out of this, Mujeeb gave only 9 runs in bowling 4 overs. Azmatullah Omarzai, Naveen-ul-Haq, and Rashid Khan got one wicket each.

After taking two wickets with the ball, Mohammad Nabi was adjudged the player of the match for scoring an unbeaten 38 runs with the bat. Tomorrow 26th March (Sunday) these two teams will face each other in the 2nd match of the series at the same time and same venue.

Afghanistan v Pakistan Scoreboard

Pakistan – 92/9 (20.0)

Afghanistan – 98/4 (17.5)

Result – Afghanistan won by 6 wickets

Player of the match – Mohammad Nabi

Mohammad Nabi

Afghanistan v Pakistan Playing Xis