2022 Asia Cup

IT was Naseem Shah’s twin sixes in the last over that did it in the end. Perhaps there was no other way this match could have ended.

In the midst of plenty of passion on and off the field in Sharjah, Pakistan registered a thrilling one-wicket win, thereby eliminating Afghanistan and India from the 2022 Asia Cup. Babar Azam’s team will now meet Sri Lanka in the final on Sunday.

Pakistan needed 45 off the last five overs but a flurry of wickets soon saw them slip from 85-3 to 119-9. Two of those wickets went to Fazalhaq Farooqi, the left-arm pacer who had also got the better of Babar Azam with an inswinger up top.

So, Afghanistan naturally looked the favourites when Farooqi had 11 runs to defend in the last over and had Pakistan’s No 10 and 11 in front. What happened then?

Farooqi missed two yorkers and Naseem deposited both of them into the stands. “He reminded us of Javed Miandad,” Babar Azam said after the win.

It was a used pitch and certainly didn’t have the carry and bounce like we saw for the India vs Pakistan game. But that said, Afghanistan’s 129 immediately felt under par at the halfway mark. In fact, it was among the lowest totals for Afghanistan at this venue, where they had won 11 out of 16 games coming into this fixture.

Key to restricting them were Haris Rauf’s two wickets, the first of them dismissing Rahmanullah Gurbaz and breaking the threatening 36-run opening stand. Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz took over in the middle overs, like they have done all Asia Cup, and combined to pick 2-50 in the eight overs between them.

Much on the lines of Nawaz’s promotion against India, it was Shadab’s turn to come up the order against Afghanistan. After Pakistan were reeling at 45-3 in 8.4 overs, having lost their much-trusted top three, out walked Shadab Khan.

He took his time, playing 9 balls for his first 8 runs before launching into Mohammad Nabi in the 12th over. It ultimately took Rashid Khan to dislodge him but not before he had made 36 off 26 and even hit a six off Rashid Khan. On expected lines, he was named the Player-of-the-Match.

Defending a small total, they were on their mark from the start and had Pakistan at 58-3 after 11 overs. Both the left-arm pacers Farooqi and Fareed Ahmad Malik picked three wickets apiece, Rashid Khan chipped in with two important wickets in the middle overs and not to forget Mujeeb Zadran, who bowled three overs inside the power-play for only five runs.

Pakistan were keen on running between the wickets for most of the innings but Asif Ali, who in fact got off the mark with a six in a pressure-cooker situation, faced only five balls in the 18th and 19th overs. That meant he saw the wickets of Nawaz, Khushdil Shah and Haris Rauf falling at the other end and it meant that a under-par target translated into a tense chase.

The two teams play each other today but the result will bear no context in the ongoing Asia Cup. That said, both teams would still like to get on the board in Super Four and use the opportunity to figure out plans before the all-important T20 World Cup. (Cricbuzz)