Player of the Match
Player of the Match

Match Centre

Statistics

Best performances - Batsmen

Hashmatullah Shahidi
97(118) 7x4 - 0x6
Control %83%
  • Productive Shot
  • flick
  • 21 runs
  • 0x4 - 0x6
10 14 15 3 28 7 11 9
Imam-ul-Haq
Imam-ul-Haq
80(104) 5x4 - 1x6
Control %90%
  • Productive Shot
  • cut shot
  • 19 runs
  • 2x4 - 0x6
0 13 9 15 12 18 2 11

Best performances - Bowlers

Rashid Khan
Rashid Khan
O10
M0
R46
W3
Eco4.60
RHB
OFFLEG
2W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
1W
Mohammad Nawaz(3)
Mohammad Nawaz(3)
O10
M1
R57
W3
Eco5.70
RHB
OFFLEG
1W1W
1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF

Scorer: @Thilak_Rama | Commentator: Varun Shetty

12:13am Whew. Is that the game that kicks life into the rest of this tournament? It was much needed, as was tomorrow's break. For you, for the players, and for us commentators too. It's been a crazy night. We'll see you when the tournament resumes. Thanks for joining today, we hope you enjoyed it. On behalf of Saurabh and Thilak - have a good night!

Shoaib Malik: Well, Rameez bhai, being a senior player when you've played enough cricket, you know when you already have a start, the goal is to bat till the 50th over. That's the only thing I had in mind. At one point the required rate was almost ten but I kept telling myself to bat till the end because we had batsmen to hit the big shots later. I think even the good bowlers, when they're bowling in the middle overs, they are confident and want to get you out. But in the end, even they are on the back foot. As a batsman, you can show authority on them. I would like to congratulate them [Afghanistan] though, they have been improving every day. ["I need that," he says when Rameez Raja mentions the rest day tomorrow.]

Shoaib Malik is the Man of the Match.

Sarfraz Ahmed: We were completely rocked by the end. Credit should go to Babar and Imam and we can't praise Malik enough. Afghanistan batted very sensibly, and they have the best three spinners in the world. Especially on these pitches. Anyone who chases against them will have to do really well, and we did. Unfortunately Shadab failed the fitness test this morning and we were a bowler short, but the batting was strengthened. Once again, I can't praise Malik enough. It wasn't easy to chase 257 on this and the way Babar and Imam showed patience before Malik, it'll give us a lot of confidence. After a long time, about 18 months, we had a terrible fielding day. We'll have to address that.

Asghar Afghan: First I want to congratulate Pakistan. Yeah today was tough and thrilling. I think it's the first in this tournament that the game was this tough., it was good for the crowd I will give a lot of credit to Babar and Imam. If Malik [Shahzad catch] had been taken, it would have been easy for us. But when you give a chance to a mature batsman, it becomes difficult. Today Hashmat and I played really well, because we wanted 240+. But our fielding didn't work today along with our seam bowling. I think on this kind of wicket, Rashid is difficult. That's why we went with him, but they played very well.


Farooq: "Great match, pure love for the Afghans. They are great ambassadors for their land. Their time will come. "

Meezan: "Great to see yet another good team emerging from the sub continent. Afghanistan has earned respect of the cricketing world with their Asia Cup performances. Welcome to the big league boys."

Hadi: "Brilliant just brilliant to see Malik and Hasan getting down to console the bowler and Malik giving a hug to Shahzad. Great sportsmanship. "

Hadi: "Finally an amazing thriller of a match in an otherwise bizarre tournament setup! AFG lost but played like champions and for sure will give India a tough day as well"

Moazam: "Believe me, it's not easy to be a Pakistani and a Pakistani fan. Been skipping my heartbeats. Made my heartbeats so fast during the last 5 overs but its worth it at the end . Phewwww"

Benny: "In his own special way, Shoaib Malik is the goat"

Jay Padia: "Shoaib Malik's innings was akin to M S Dhoni of yore. Take it to the end, keep one end secure, let others hit a six and when it matters, finish it off in style. Good fight, Afghanistan and good wrap, Pakistan!"

Caleb: "For what was pretty good death bowling on the whole, there were just too many six balls towards the end. Missed opportunity for Afghanistan and it's the small margins at the highest level, but that game was winner take a top 2 finish in all likelihood "

Muhammad Omer D: "What a match... Well done Afghanistan.. Congratulationsï»ż Pakistan"

Vipul : "Rashid Khan is the Neil Johnson of Afghanistan. Typically contributes the most and sees it all washed away."

Abdullah Iqbal: "Six of Asif , Six of Nawaz , Six of Hasan , Six of Malik. The tale of 4 sixes <3"

11:51 It's really Malik's experience trumping Afghanistan's inexperience. With his shot selection, with his calculations, and with his instructions to the lower-order batsmen, Malik brought the game where he wanted it to be: in the last over against a not-so-confident seamer. And boy did he punish him.

Before that, Imam and Babar with a 154-run stand that should have made this a lot easier than it was. But is it even Pakistan if this isn't how it's done? A three wicket win.

49.3
4
Aftab Alam to Shoaib Malik, FOUR, that's it! Malik swipes it to the fine leg boundary and wins it for Pakistan with his 43-ball fifty. Aftab is on his haunces, covering his face and possibly in tears. But this is all Malik, he's engineered this to perfection. Looked for the yorker, it was off slightly, a leg stump overpitched ball and it was an easy put away

Aarish Mustafa: "@Haseeb how do you know malik isn't playing for his fifty here ;)"

49.2
6
Aftab Alam to Shoaib Malik, SIX, bowl me what you want, says the old hero, I'm going to send you away. It's short of a length, it's a slower ball, it sits up and he whips it over deep square. Bad, bad ball.
49.1
0
Aftab Alam to Shoaib Malik, no run, overpitched ball outside off and he misses out! Extra cover and mid-off in but he mistimes the drive. Sends Hasan back too

10 off 6. Shoaib Malik is on strike. The strategy meetings have begun., Short fine, point, extra cover and mid-off are the fielders inside. Does that mean a short of a length strategy?

END OF OVER:
49 | 8 Runs 1 Wkt | PAK: 248/7 (10 runs required from 6 balls, RR: 5.06, RRR: 10.00)

  • Hasan Ali6 (3b)
  • Shoaib Malik41 (40b)
  • Rashid Khan10-0-46-3
  • Aftab Alam9-1-54-0

Haseeb: "Will the 2 runs denied at last 2 balls of Afghan innings make the difference? This is what happens when personal milestones are more precious than teams good."

48.6
0
Rashid Khan to Hasan Ali, no run, narrowly misses off stump. Rashid is mad at himself. It's another googly, Hasan swipes across the line and misses. But he's done his job

Hasan will look to play the same shot again, make no mistake...

48.5
0
Rashid Khan to Hasan Ali, no run, beaten. Googly outside off, swings across the line again but this time it sneaks through from under his bat
48.4
6
Rashid Khan to Hasan Ali, SIX, he has swing it over wide long-on! This is excellent strategy. It has to be the guy at the other end who has to take on Rashid. Malik gives Hasan the license, Hasan uses it to club a googly with the slog sweep

Hasan Ali walks in. He can smash em too...

Pakistan 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st0Fakhar ZamanImam-ul-Haq
2nd154Babar AzamImam-ul-Haq
3rd4Haris SohailBabar Azam
4th36Shoaib MalikHaris Sohail
5th22Shoaib MalikSarfaraz Ahmed
6th10Shoaib MalikAsif Ali
7th16Shoaib MalikMohammad Nawaz (3)
8th16Shoaib MalikHasan Ali

Asia Cup (ODI)

Super Four
TeamMWLPTNRR
IND32050.863
BAN3214-0.156
PAK3122-0.599
AFG3021-0.044
Group A
TeamMWLPTNRR
IND22041.474
PAK21120.284
HKG2020-1.748
Group B
TeamMWLPTNRR
AFG22042.27
BAN21120.01
SL2020-2.28