In the final match of the United Arab Emirates (UAE)-hosted tri-nation T20 series in Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Afghanistan restricted Pakistan to 141 runs at the end of the first innings after the loss of eight wickets.
Afghanistan’s spinners shattered Pakistan’s batting line-up, as Captain Rashid Khan took three wickets. Noor Ahmed grabbed two wickets, while pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi also got a couple of wickets.
For Pakistan, Fakhar Zaman scored 27 runs, while all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz managed to add 25 runs to the team total.
Afghanistan needs 142 runs in the twenty overs to win the series.
Winning the toss, Pakistan Captain Salman Agha opted to bat first.
In their back-to-back face-offs in the series’ round robin matches, Pakistan first beat Afghanistan by 39 runs. In the second encounter, Afghanistan struck back with a 19-run victory against the Green Shirts.
At the end of the round stage, Pakistan and Afghanistan had six points, after winning three out of their four matches.
The host UAE couldn’t manage to secure a single win to clinch any points, hence the other two teams qualified for the final.
Mike Hesson fortifies confidence in national team
In his latest statement ahead of final, the Pakistan national team’s head coach Mike Hesson praised the performances of the national team by saying that, “Pakistan are growing nicely as a team”.
“Certainly not perfect,” he said, but he appraised his performance, too, as the Pakistan team have won 9 out of 12 T20 matches since he came on board.
He termed this “a big improvement” from the time when he took charge.
