Pakistan vs Afghanistan - Pakistan overpower spirited Afghanistan in historic showdown

The historic match between two neighbours, Pakistan and Afghanistan, who mostly learned the art of cricket from the former, produced an expected result but it was not without excitement. Pakistan chased down a modest target without much fuss but the men from war-torn Afghanistan got rousing support from the crowd for their flamboyant cricket.

Match Report - Afghanistan in UAE: Only ODI, Sharjah Cricket Stadium, 10 Feb 2012 (D/N)

After beginning their remarkable journey in division 5 of the World Cricket League in 2008, they are now in division 1 alongside Ireland, Scotland, Netherlands and Kenya. Their meteoric rise brought them, apart from glory, a chance to face Pakistan in their first ever ODI against a full member Test nation. They have played two T20 Internationals in the World T20 in 2010. This was also a first ever instance where an affiliate nation was facing a Test nation – Afghanistan has not yet been granted an Associate status.

The historic toss was won by Nawroz Mangal, Afghan captain and he had no hesitation in opting to bat first on a typical Sharjah pitch. Quite disappointingly, Hamid Hasan was ruled out due to injury. For Pakistan, Shoaib Malik, who was inducted into the squad late allegedly on the behest of Misbah, got the nod ahead of Hammad Azam, a decision widely criticized.

Afghanistan started as if this was not their first ever ODI against a top side. Karim Sadiq and Noor Ali Zadran got a four each of Umar Gul early on to ease their nerves, if any. Zadran was foxed into a soft dismissal, an easy return catch to Umar Gul to hand Pakistan first blood.

From no where, Sadiq hammered Gul’s slower one for a stunning hit over long on but was immediately dropped by Younis off the next ball at midwicket as he flicked uppishly. Mohammad Shahzad, hard-hitting wicket keeper batsman, came next and opened his account with three fours on successive balls, including a lucky one through the vacant slip region.

Saeed Ajmal was welcomed into the attack by Shahzad with an incredible reverse-swept six. The bowler as well as the batsman were bewildered for a while as the shot had come out of nowhere against the man who had traumatized the much-vaunted English batting line up during the Test series. But his enterprising stay did not last long, as Afridi struck in his first over, a flying catch at point by Asad Shafiq. Afridi, then, clean-bowled Nawroz Mangal to make it 71 for 3 in the 14^th over - not a bad start for an Affiliate nation.

Afghanistan needed some stability to make it big for themselves. Karim Sadiq was going well and some body had to give him company to keep their team going for a while against Afridi who was bowling superbly. Mohammad Nabi joined Sadiq as Hafeez was introduced into the attack. Sadiq latched onto a flighted delivery from Hafeez and sent the ball soaring over the boundary at long-on.
 
Afridi dealt a body blow to Afghanistan when he had Karim Sadiq caught behind for a well-made 40 (47 balls, 2x4, 2x6). Nabi and inexperienced Gulbodin Naib resorted to play safely, throwing the flair away. Spin-pair of Ajmal and Afridi made their life difficult by bowling tightly. Naib brought Afghanistan’s hundred with a lovely cut but had no answer to Afridi’s googly the next ball as he was trapped right in front.

Nabi hit Afridi for a six down the ground when the bowler gave a little air to the ball. Some flow was injected into the innings with the introduction of Shoaib Malik into the attack, who looked out of sorts. Nabi carted him for another huge six as the 7^th wicket pair looked good. But it was not to be as Nabi was run out for 37, four runs short of a fifty partnership. Samiullah Shenwari was at the crease as the last hope for Afghanistan, as the scoring rate came to a halt.

The batting powerplay started in the 36^th over which was a maiden one bowled by Wahab Riaz. After two more economical overs, Mirwais Ashraf scored two crucial fours off Ajmal to give some sparkle to an innings which had gone listless. But that sparkle was just a splash in the pan as Afridi came back top remove Ashraf with a perfectly placed googly.

The innings ended in a hurry as Wahab and Umar Gul polished off the tail. Apart from Shenwari who made 32, no one could resist for long. The score of 195 was below par but for a minnow, on a slow pitch, it wasn’t a bad effort either. Umar Gul and Wahab Riaz took two scalps each but the stand out performer for Pakistan was again Shahid Afridi who grabbed 5 for 36.

Pakistan lost Mohammad Hafeez cheaply who played on as Dawlat Zadran brought one back off a good length. Asad Shafiq started with a crispy drive against the other Zadran, Shapoor. Asad was looking in great shape as he unleashed few more strokes for four while Imran Farhat played a waiting game at the other end. Afghanistan pulled things back through Dawlat who got his second victim by trapping Asad (20 off 21 balls with 5 fours) LBW.

Imran and Younis then played effortlessly as the score ticked along smoothly. Imran got a reprieve when Nawroz Mangal dropped him on 37. Imran was particularly severe on Hamza Hotak, the left-arm spinner, whom he punished for three fours in one over, last one bringing up his 50 (62 balls, 9 fours). The platform was set for Imran to go on and register a hundred but he gave a simple return catch to Samiullah Shenwari to make it 99 for 3 in the 22^nd over.

Younis Khan then took over the mettle of scoring the bulk of the runs as he thumped Mohammad Nabi for a couple of fours on both sides of the ground. He used his feet against spinners masterfully. Misbah, on the other hand, played his natural game; tuk tuk tuk and bang! His 6 off Shenwari over long-on was an effortless one. Younis, shortly after being dropped by the keeper off Shapoor, brought up his fifty in 55 balls with a straight-driven four off Dawlat and celebrated it with a thumping on-drive the very next ball.

The experienced pair helped Pakistan cruise to victory with Younis playing fluently and Misbah doing it Misbahishly. Match ended with a flourish - last five overs yielding nearly 9 an over. Misbah 40 (3 fours, 2 sixes) and Younis 70 (65 balls, 10 fours) remained not out, sharing the match-winning stand of 99 runs in 15.3 overs.

Although the victory came easily for Pakistan but Afghanistan showed enough glimpses of brilliance – a sign of bright future for them. 


Summarised scores:


Pakistan 198/3 in 37.1 overs (Younis 70*, Imran Farhat 52; Dawlat Zadran 2/38) beat Afghanistan 195 all out (Karim Sadiq 40; Shahid Afridi 5/36, Umar Gul 2/30) by 7 wickets
Man of the Match: Shahid Afridi


Credit: AFP (Image)