2nd ODI: Pakistan beat Afghanistan after thrilling encounter

Hambantota: In the second match of the three-match One Day International (ODI) series, Pakistan defeated Afghanistan by one wicket after an exciting contest.

In the second match of the three-match ODI series played in Hambantota, Sri Lanka, Pakistan achieved the target on the last wicket in 49.5 overs thanks to Naseem Shah's important innings.

Afghanistan won the toss and decided to bat first, which proved to be the best. Afghan team scored 300 runs for the loss of 05 wickets in the allotted 50 overs.

Afghanistan innings

The Afghan openers started the innings cautiously and played strokes all around the wicket after being set, giving the team a good start of 227 runs.

Afghan opener Rahmanullah Garbaz played a brilliant innings of 151 runs and fell victim to Shaheen Afridi. Rahmanullah's innings included 03 sixes and 14 fours while the other opener Ibrahim Zadran scored 80 runs and fell victim to Osama Mir.

Apart from them, Mohammad Nabi 29, Rashid Khan 02 and Shahidullah were out by making one run. Captain Heshmatullah Shahidi 15 and Abdul Rehman remained not out with 04 runs.

From Pakistani team, Naseem Shah got one wicket by giving 45 runs in 09 overs, Osama Mir got one wicket by giving 61 runs in 10 overs, Haris Rauf got 48 runs in 07 overs and Shadab Khan got 53 runs in 10 overs.

Pakistan's innings

In pursuit of the target of 301 runs, the openers of the national team also adopted a cautious approach and contributed 52 runs to the team, Fakhar Zaman was bowled by Fazal Haq Farooqui on an individual score of 30.

After Fakhar, came the captain Babar Azam who along with Imam-ul-Haq brought the team's score to 170 runs. Babar also became a victim of Fazal Haq and played an innings of 53 runs.

Then the Pakistani batting line appeared to be in trouble, Agha Salman got out after scoring 14 runs, Mohammad Rizwan also scored only 02 runs, Imam-ul-Haq also got out after scoring 91 runs. On this occasion, Shadab Khan played an aggressive innings and on 35 balls scored 48 runs but got out on the first ball of the last over.

In the last minute, Naseem Shah once again played the winning innings, he scored a valuable 10 runs and snatched the victory from the hands of Afghanistan.

On behalf of Afghanistan, Fazal Haq got 03 outs, Mohammad Nabi got 02 outs, Mujeeb-ur-Rehman and Abdul Rehman got out one each.

Shadab Khan was given the player of the match award.

It is pertinent to note that last year in the match against Afghanistan in Asia Cup, Naseem Shah had won the match with the help of two sixes for Pakistan. The six-marker was a thrilling one-wicket victory.

Pakistan has got a decisive lead of 0-2 in the ODI series, Pakistan outclassed the rival team by 142 runs in the first match.