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Half-centuries from Hashmatullah Shahidi and Asghar Afghan – the former an epic that spanned 40 overs and ended just three runs shy of a hundred – ensured Afghanistan overcame a top-order wobble to set Pakistan 258 to avoid their first defeat against Afghanistan.
A 63-run partnership between Shahidi and Rahmat Shah had stabilised the innings after left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz, the pick of the Pakistan bowlers, had removed openers Ihsanullah and Mohammad Shahzad with consecutive deliveries either side of the tenth over. But it was the stand between Afghan and Shahidi which really set Afghanistan on their way to the strong total they ended up with. They added 94 off 99, capitalising on dropped catches and ordinary ground fielding as Pakistan put on an atrocious fielding display of the kind they would have thought they had put behind them.
Pakistan had made three changes for this match, switching up both personnel and combination as the folly of taking six seamers to a country where wickets are slow and swing elusive began to sink in. To compound their woe, Shadab Khan was adjudged unfit, and it was clear Haris Sohail’s inclusion for Faheem Ashraf had far more to do with his ability to bowl slow left-arm.
But perhaps the most notable change, arguably long overdue, was replacing Mohammad Amir to give Shaheen Afridi his first ODI cap. He was much better than his figures suggested, utilising changes of pace and exploiting his height to extract pace and bounce. But he was the prime victim of Pakistan’s largesse in the field, seeing no fewer than three catches dropped off his bowling to deny him his maiden ODI wicket. However, he was among the culprits too, dropping an absolute dolly as Pakistan began to fall apart at the end of the innings.
The key knock- and it could yet become a matchwinning one – was played by the captain Afghan, who took charge of the tempo of the game from the moment he came in, smashing a six off the first ball he faced, showing signs he intended to drag Afghanistan to a more expeditious run rate. It immediately put Pakistan on the back foot, and all thoughts of running through the side instead turned towards conservation of boundaries. It was almost a baseball innings towards the end as Afghan cleared his front leg well in advance almost every ball to shape to clear cow corner. He hit all five of Afghanistan’s sixes as his side began to take control of the game.
Shahidi was the perfect foil, the rock Afghan allowed himself to build his foundation on. At one stage he had 59 runs from 97 balls, which may not look impressive by the modern, frenetic scoring rates of today, but without his presence, the likelihood of Pakistan bowling Afghanistan out early was vastly greater. More importantly, he was there right through the innings, refusing to throw it away even as he appeared to be struggling towards the end, and smashed Usman Khan for three fours in the final over as he ended up just three runs shy of the century he richly deserved.
Pakistan dominated the first ten overs, with Usman, now leading the attack in Amir’s absence, and Afridi not letting Shahzad free his arms and get off to the flyer Afghanistan have come to expect of him. It was almost reminiscent of what India had done to Pakistan a few days ago, and it paid similar dividends. Both openers fell cheaply after unconvincing, edgy innings, and by the end of the Powerplay Afghanistan managed a mere 31 runs. Unlike Pakistan the other day, however, they came back extremely strongly, posting their biggest total of the Asia Cup yet. Given the previous two – of 249 and 255 – were enough to comfortably see off Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, Afghanistan could be one disciplined bowling performance away from making it three wins in three.