Afghanistan beat Pakistan by 8 runs Afghanistan have yet another bang in the ongoing ICC ODI World Cup 2023. Afghanistan registered their second win in the ongoing tournament by defeating Pakistan by 8 wickets in the match played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Earlier, Afghanistan shocked everyone by defeating England by 69 runs in the 13th match of the tournament. In a crucial match for the semi-finals, Pakistan captain Babar Azam won the toss and elected to bat first and the team scored 282 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in the allotted 50 overs, giving Afghanistan a target of 283 runs to win. In reply, Afghanistan won the match with 8 wickets to spare. In this match, Rahmanullah Gurbaz scored 65 runs, Ibrahim Zadran scored 87 runs, Rahmat Shah scored 77 runs unbeaten and captain Hashamtullah Shahidi scored 44 runs unbeaten to lead the team to victory in this match.
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This is Afghanistan’s first win against Pakistan in ODI cricket. With this, he has four points in five matches. Pakistan also have the same number of points but their third straight defeat has dealt a blow to their chances of reaching the semi-finals. With this win, Afghanistan moved to sixth place in the points table while Pakistan is fifth.
Afghanistan got off to a strong start
Chasing the 283-run target set by Pakistan, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran got Afghanistan off to a good start. Both the batsmen added 130 runs for the first wicket. Meanwhile, both of them had completed their respective half-centuries. This was the first time in a World Cup that both opening batsmen had completed their respective half-centuries. The first blow to Afghanistan was in the form of Gurbaz. After this, the team got another blow in the form of Ibrahim Zadran at a score of 190. Ibrahim Zadran missed his century and played an innings of 87 runs. In the end, Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi remained unbeaten and gave the team their second win of the tournament.
Babar Azam played a half century innings
Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat first. With the help of half-centuries from skipper Babar Azam and opener Abdullah Shafiq, Pakistan overcame the challenge of Afghanistan’s spin quartet and scored 282 for seven wickets.
Babar, who has been struggling to score runs in the last few matches, scored a 92-ball 74 that included four fours and a six. Shafiq played an innings of 58 runs off 75 balls while Shadab Khan (40 off 38 balls) and Iftikhar Ahmed (40 off 27 balls) put on a useful partnership of 73 runs for the sixth wicket in the later overs.
The pitch was favorable for spinners and hence Afghanistan included four spinners in their playing eleven. Left arm wrist spinner Noor Ahmed was the most successful in this. He took three wickets for 49 runs. Fast bowler Naveen Ul Haq took two wickets for 52 runs. Off-spinner Mohammad Nabi (1 wicket for 31 runs) bowled economically while leading spinners Rashid Khan and Mujeeb ur Rehman had no success.
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