 |
| Imam-ul-Haq 61, Afghanistan 59: 'For India! Have you seen our fast bowlers today? |
Pakistan defeated Afghanistan by 142 runs in the first match of the three ODI series.
In the first match played in Hambantota, Sri Lanka, Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat first. Got out.
However, Afghanistan could not achieve even this easy target and due to the extremely nimble and excellent bowling of the Pakistani bowlers, the entire Afghanistan team was bowled out for just 59 runs in the 20th over.
The highlight of the match was Haris Rauf's devastating bowling, he dismissed five bowlers for just 18 runs in 6.2 overs. Shaheen Shah Afridi dismissed two while Shadab Khan and Naseem Shah dismissed one player each.
Out of the entire Afghanistan team, only two batsmen could cross the 10-run mark. Rehmanullah Garbaz was the top scorer scoring 18 runs while Azmatullah Omarzai retired Hurt by scoring 16 runs. Four of Afghanistan's batsmen were dismissed for no runs.
Afghanistan's innings
Chasing Pakistan's target of 202, Afghanistan's first wicket fell at three in the third over when Ibrahim Zardan fell to Shaheen Shah Afridi for no runs. On the very next ball of the same over, Shaheen Shah Afridi also showed Rahmat Shah the way to the pavilion. Rehmat also got out without scoring any runs.
After that, Afghanistan's wickets continued to fall and no Afghan batsman could stand on the crease.
In the fourth over of the innings, Heshmatullah Shahidi also fell victim to Naseem Shah's ball. Shahidi also got out without scoring any runs.
In the eighth over bowled by Haris Rauf, Ikram Alikhel scored only four runs and caught Mohammad Rizwan behind the wicket. Rehmanullah Garbaz scored 18 runs, Muhammad Bani seven, Rashid Khan zero, Abdul-ur-Rehman two and Mujeeb-ur-Rehman scored four runs.
Pakistan's innings
Pakistan batsmen also seemed to be in trouble at the hands of Afghan spinners during their innings.
Fast bowler Fazal Haq Farooqui put the Pakistan team in trouble from the start when he dismissed opener Fakhar Zaman for 2 runs and Mujeebur Rahman dismissed Babar Azam for 0 runs lbw.
Pakistan's third wicket fell on 40 runs when Mohammad Rizwan scored 21 runs and was lbw off Mujeebur Rahman. Agha Salman, who came after him, could score only 7 runs. However, after that the situation improved a little and Imamul Haq and Iftikhar Ahmed put on a partnership of 50 runs after which
Iftikhar was dismissed for 30 runs on a total score of 112 runs. After that, a partnership of 40 runs was formed between Imam-ul-Haq and Shadab Khan.
Imam-ul-Haq scored the highest 61 runs for Pakistan while Shadab Khan scored 39 runs and Iftikhar Ahmed scored 30 runs.
Haris Rauf was given the Man of the Match award.
After this match, fans are celebrating on social media. Some people doubt that the Man of the Match award should have gone to Imam instead of Haris Rauf.
User Atif Nawaz wrote "A great display of patience and tolerance by Imam-ul-Haq." He stands up in difficult situations despite the dismissal of fellow batsmen. His 17th half-century in ODIs was very impressive.