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(Photo Credit source: PTI)
Pakistan vs Afghanistan: Afghanistan have stunned everyone with yet another surprise victory in the World Cup 2023. After defeating the world champions England, the team led by Hashmatullah Shahidi did another reverse by defeating Babar Azam’s Pakistan team. In this match held in Chennai on Monday, October 23, Afghanistan created a sensation by defeating Pakistan by 8 wickets with their strong and smart batting instead of their spin power.
Afghanistan restricted Pakistan to 282 runs thanks to Noor Ahmed’s brilliant bowling. After this, on the strength of Ibrahimi Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s explosive opening partnership, Afghanistan defeated Pakistan for the first time in ODI cricket.
All eyes were fixed on this match held at MA Chidambaram Stadium. Pakistan had entered this match with the hope of victory after two consecutive defeats. However, he was also aware of the threat from Afghanistan. The Pakistani team and fans in particular were terrified of the Afghan spin.
Also, after defeating England, Afghanistan’s morale was high and they were full of confidence about their first win in 8 ODIs against Pakistan. In the end, Afghanistan proved Pakistan’s fears right, but it was mainly on the strength of their batting that they registered this victory.
Noor Ahmed heavy on Pakistan
Pakistan batted first on Chennai’s spin-friendly pitch but got off to a better start than expected. Especially in the powerplay, the Pakistani openers faced Mujeeb ur Rehman well. Abdullah Shafiq (58) and Imam-ul-Haq (17) shared a partnership of 56 runs in 10.2 overs for the first wicket, but only Shafiq looked more active and aggressive. Then there was a partnership of 54 runs between Shafiq and captain Babar Azam. Meanwhile, Shafiq completed his second half-century.
Here, Pakistan’s innings was a bit dull. 18-year-old spinner Noor Ahmed (3/49), playing his first World Cup match, took the wicket of Shafiq first and then Mohammad Rizwan (8) soon after. Meanwhile, Babar (74) completed his second half-century of the tournament and took the team’s tally further. However, the pace of scoring remained low and then in the 42nd over, he also became the third victim of Noor Ahmed. From here the Pakistani team looked in trouble but Shadab Khan (40) and especially Iftikhar Ahmed (40) with their explosive batting took the team to a strong score of 282 runs.
Gurbaz-Zadaran completed the incomplete work
Pakistan had never lost a score of more than 280 in a World Cup before and as Iftikhar-Shadab guided the team to 282, it looked likely to happen again. However, Gurbaz and Ibrahim had different intentions. Two months ago, there was an explosive century partnership against Pakistan in Dambulla, but then the team could not turn it into a victory. Once again both started off with the same bang. There was a partnership of 130 runs between the two, which Shaheen Shah Afridi broke by dismissing Gurbaz (65) in the 22nd over.
Pakistan is ashamed
21-year-old opener Ibrahim (87), who had failed to make a big impact in the tournament so far, produced his best performance against Pakistan. From here he also formed a good partnership with Rahmat Shah and took the team to 190 runs. However, he could not complete his century and fell prey to Hasan Ali. From here it seemed that the Afghan team would fade away as usual and Pakistan would take the match in their favor but Rahmat Shah (77 not out) and captain Shahidi (48 not out) did not let that happen. Taking advantage of the poor form of Pakistan’s spinners and fast bowler Harris Rauf, these two gave the team a historic victory by losing only 2 wickets in 49 overs without any mistakes or haste.
The third reversal of the World Cup
This is the third reverse in the World Cup, in which Afghanistan has achieved this feat for the second time. Earlier, Afghanistan had surprised the world champion England. Then the Netherlands also surprised South Africa. Now Afghanistan has once again performed a miracle. This is his second win in World Cup 2023. At the same time, Pakistan started the tournament with a win in 2 matches, but now they have lost the third match in a row. He was first defeated by Team India and then Australia made him their victim.
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