50 overs Pakistan 268 for 8 (Rizwan 67, Babar 60, Salman 38*, Naib 2-36, Fareed 2-70) vs Afghanistan
It was an innings of two halves. The primary 30 overs yielded Pakistan solely 103 runs whereas the final 20 obtained them 165. Batting first on a two-paced Colombo floor, the batters have been at no level snug initially. Babar and Rizwan added 110 runs for the third wicket, however took 145 balls. A mini-collapse additionally adopted however Salman and Nawaz arrested the slide and helped Pakistan finish on a excessive.
The under-fire Fakhar Zaman was off the blocks early climbing into Fazalhaq Farooqi, slamming him for 5 fours within the 20 balls he confronted. Imam-ul-Haq, then again, struggled all by means of. He performed back-to-back maidens off Mujeeb Ur Rahman and typically lacked timing.
Pakistan nonetheless managed to get going at a tick over 4 an over, with Fakhar discovering his groove. However a bowling change obtained the hosts again into the sport. Gulbadin Naib, taking part in his first sport of the sequence, drafted into the aspect instead of the injured Azmatullah Omarzai, made an instantaneous affect. His tempo was within the mid-120s however he discovered sufficient motion to bother each Imam and Fakhar.
A few outswingers beat Fakhar’s outstretched blade earlier than he tried a launch shot solely miscue a size ball straight up. The catch was intercepted nicely by Riaz Hassan, who sprinted again from additional cowl and despatched again Fakhar for 27.
Mohammad Nawaz chipped in with a 25-ball 30•AFP/Getty Photographs
Naib then eliminated Imam as nicely. He got here dashing down the monitor to a short-of-a-length ball outdoors off, however as was the case with Fakhar, was overwhelmed by away motion. A wild swing of the bat adopted, however he might solely handle a thick edge with Rahmanullah Gurbaz doing the remainder.
Babar and Rizwan obtained collectively within the thirteenth over and for the subsequent few overs, run-scoring turned a large process. Solely 4 fours have been hit within the subsequent 18 overs, with the run price dropping to under 3.50. The Afghans caught to a plan however there was additionally an absence of intent from each batters.
Drinks have been known as for and shortly after each batters flicked a change. Pakistan collected 85 runs between overs 31 to 40 to storm again into the competition. Rizwan was the one to interrupt the shackles and he reached his tenth ODI fifty off 69 balls whereas Babar joined him quickly taking 77 balls to achieve the landmark.
Each batters, nonetheless, did not put up a three-figure rating. Whereas Rashid Khan induced an out of doors edge off Babar’s blade, Rizwan fell lbw to Fareed Ahmaed, although he would possibly take into account himself a tad unfortunate, with replays displaying the ball would have simply taken the highest of leg stump. In between, Afghanistan additionally ran out Saud Shakeel as Pakistan misplaced 3 for 9 in 15 balls.
Nawaz and Salman, nonetheless, made positive to offer Pakistan a great finish. They stitched a 61-run stand off 47 balls for the seventh wicket. Afghanistan, who have been good within the area within the high half of the innings, began to make errors. There have been numerous misfields and dropped probabilities with Pakistan going previous 250 with ease.
Ashish Pant is a sub-editor with ESPNcricinfo
