AFG vs PAK 1st T20: Mohammad Nabi and Najibullah Zadran remained undefeated as Afghanistan defeated Pakistan by six wickets in the first Twenty20 International at the Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium on Friday.
Afghanistan had a clinical effort from start to finish, despite losing the toss and being asked to bowl first.
Pakistan’s innings never gained any momentum as the hosts’ disciplined bowling caused them to lose wickets at regular intervals.
In their combined 11 overs, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, and Nabi each took two wickets while only allowing 34 runs.
Rashid Khan joined the party and helped contain the score as spin continued to rule the first inning.
The Pakistani bowlers weren’t going down easily, despite the target not appearing to be very difficult. Afghanistan appeared to have lost their momentum in their pursuit at 45/4.
But, the resurgent Nabi upheld his reputation for excellence and decency by forming an unbroken partnership with Najibullah Zadran and leading Afghanistan to victory with more than two overs to spare.
“Pleasure to win, as we’ve always lost against them by small margins,” Afghanistan skipper Khan said.
“Wearing Afghanistan colours and leading the team in a win is a proud achievement. We never know the wicket . . . (but the) mindset was . . . to adjust accordingly.”
Afghanistan has a chance at a first-series win in the remaining two T20s on Sunday and Monday.
Full Scorecard: AFG vs PAK 1st T20
Pakistan (20 ovs maximum)
| BATTING | R | B | M | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saim Ayub | b Naveen-ul-Haq | 17 | 15 | 35 | 2 | 1 | 113.33 |
| Mohammad Haris | c Azmatullah Omarzai b Fazalhaq Farooqi | 6 | 11 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 54.54 |
| Abdullah Shafique | lbw b Azmatullah Omarzai | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Tayyab Tahir | c & b Rashid Khan | 16 | 9 | 14 | 3 | 0 | 177.77 |
| Azam Khan † | c Gulbadin Naib b Mujeeb Ur Rahman | 0 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Imad Wasim | b Fazalhaq Farooqi | 18 | 32 | 50 | 0 | 0 | 56.25 |
| Shadab Khan (c) | c Azmatullah Omarzai b Mujeeb Ur Rahman | 12 | 18 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 66.66 |
| Faheem Ashraf | c Rashid Khan b Mohammad Nabi | 2 | 8 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 25.00 |
| Naseem Shah | hit wicket b Mohammad Nabi | 2 | 7 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 28.57 |
| Zaman Khan | not out | 8 | 8 | 21 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Ihsanullah | not out | 6 | 8 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 75.00 |
| Extras | (b 3, lb 1, w 1) | 5 | |||||
| TOTAL | 20 Ov (RR: 4.60) | 92/9 | |||||
| Fall of wickets: 1-17 (Mohammad Haris, 2.6 ov), 2-22 (Abdullah Shafique, 3.4 ov), 3-39 (Saim Ayub, 5.6 ov), 4-39 (Tayyab Tahir, 6.1 ov), 5-41 (Azam Khan, 7.2 ov), 6-60 (Shadab Khan, 12.1 ov), 7-65 (Faheem Ashraf, 13.5 ov), 8-71 (Naseem Shah, 15.4 ov), 9-80 (Imad Wasim, 17.5 ov) • DRS |
| BOWLING | O | M | R | W | ECON | 0s | 4s | 6s | WD | NB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fazalhaq Farooqi | 4 | 0 | 13 | 2 | 3.25 | 18 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Azmatullah Omarzai | 3 | 0 | 20 | 1 | 6.66 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Mujeeb Ur Rahman | 4 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 2.25 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Naveen-ul-Haq | 2 | 0 | 19 | 1 | 9.50 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rashid Khan | 4 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 3.75 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mohammad Nabi | 3 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 4.00 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Afghanistan (T: 93 runs from 20 ovs)
| BATTING | R | B | M | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rahmanullah Gurbaz † | c Abdullah Shafique b Naseem Shah | 16 | 17 | 29 | 1 | 1 | 94.11 |
| Ibrahim Zadran | c †Azam Khan b Ihsanullah | 9 | 11 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 81.81 |
| Gulbadin Naib | c Mohammad Haris b Ihsanullah | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Mohammad Nabi | not out | 38 | 38 | 57 | 3 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Karim Janat | b Imad Wasim | 7 | 16 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 43.75 |
| Najibullah Zadran | not out | 17 | 23 | 32 | 2 | 0 | 73.91 |
| Extras | (b 4, lb 5, w 2) | 11 | |||||
| TOTAL | 17.5 Ov (RR: 5.49) | 98/4 | |||||
| Did not bat: Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan (c), Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Naveen-ul-Haq | |||||||
| Fall of wickets: 1-23 (Ibrahim Zadran, 4.1 ov), 2-23 (Gulbadin Naib, 4.3 ov), 3-27 (Rahmanullah Gurbaz, 5.3 ov), 4-45 (Karim Janat, 9.4 ov) • DRS |
| BOWLING | O | M | R | W | ECON | 0s | 4s | 6s | WD | NB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Naseem Shah | 4 | 0 | 27 | 1 | 6.75 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Zaman Khan | 3 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 6.33 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ihsanullah | 3.5 | 0 | 17 | 2 | 4.43 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Imad Wasim | 4 | 1 | 11 | 1 | 2.75 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Shadab Khan | 3 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 5.00 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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