Pakistan Vs Afghanistan Match Summary
If there was an award for Climactic tournaments, the award would go to Asia Cup 2022. In another cliffhanger, we saw Pakistan taking it home and making its way to the finals. Beating Afghanistan by 1 wicket, the Green Team has sent them and India home packing. Here in this article, we have discussed Asia Cup 2022 Super 4s, Pakistan Vs Afghanistan Match Summary in detail.
All thanks to Naseem Shah who kept his cool and found the sweet spot on his bat twice in a remarkable steal. Pakistan was cautious throughout their pursuit. Except for Shadab Khan and, possibly, Asif Ali near the end, none of the other batters got going. Then they crumbled as well, losing six wickets for 32 runs. Farooqi, who had bowled superbly up to that point, succumbed to pressure in the final over, and that is all that mattered now.
After losing the toss, which is usually a death wish in Sharjah, Pakistan’s bowling prowess limited Afghanistan to 129 runs. However, the Afghan bowlers easily added 20-30 runs to the total with their bowling and discipline, bringing them back into the game. But it’s never over until it’s over, and close enough never is. This will be a difficult lesson for Afghanistan, but we are confident that they will emerge stronger. Pakistan, on the other hand, has shown amazing resilience, which will serve them well in the next harder clashes.
Afghanistan scored 129 in the first innings and it looked like it will be an easy win for Pakistan. When it came to their batting, Afghanistan emerged stronger than anyone would have expected, sending batters back to the den. It was a strong performance from them by ball and this team is going places in future.
The losing captain, Mohammad Nabi talked about his team’s performance a she said, “ Yes the bowling and the fielding was brilliant, but we didn’t finish well and we didn;t hold our nerves. We didn’t leave the game at any stage. The boys fought on every ball. Again, it was the end, both with the bat and with the ball. We thought that we chased well against Bangladesh. We knew it would be tough chasing 130 here, and that’s why we looked to bowl dot balls. We didn’t give easy singles. The plan on the last two deliveries was to bowl slower bouncers or bowl yorkers, but he (Farooqi) didn’t execute his plans. We will try our best to play the last game with the same energy. We have a game tomorrow now. Thanks for the support, it was lovely from the fans here.”
The winning captain, Babar Azam looked a happy face as ever, “To be honest, the dressing room was very tensed. The team was walking in and out of the dressing room. Excellent with the way Naseem Shah finished it off. Sharjah is always low-scoring, and Mujeeb and Rashid Khan are one of the best bowlers. We just wanted to take the match deep. The way we started with the ball was excellent. In our batting, we didn’t execute our plans very well, but Naseem was outstanding. At the back of the mind, I have seen Naseem play like this earlier, and I had the belief in him. This moment reminds me of Javed Miandad’s six. We would like to continue this momentum and not repeat our mistakes. Every day is a ber day, and we would like to take it day by day.”
PLAYER OF THE MATCH– Shadab Khan
