Afghanistan beat Pakistan by 18 runs in the Tri-Nation T20I Series match at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Tuesday evening.
Chasing a decent 170-run target for victory, Pakistan kept losing wickets at regular intervals and finished at 151/9 in the allocated 20 overs.
As top-order batters failed to make any significant contribution. Haris Rauf gave some respectability to the team total by hitting four maximums to score 34 off 16 balls. Fakhar Zaman made 23, skipper Salman Agha 20, Sahibzada Farhan 18. Faheem Ashraf 14 and Mohammad Nawaz 10 runs.
Fazalhaq Farooqi, skipper Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi and Noor Ahmed bagged two wickets each. Salman Agha was run out. Player of the match for his valuable contribution with bat: Ibrahim Zadran
Afganistan:
Winning the toss and electing to bat first, Afghanistan reached 169/5 in the allocated 20 overs despite losing the key wicket of Rehanullah Gurbaz early.
Ibrahim Zadran was the top scorer for his side with 65 off 45 balls, laced with eight fours and one maximum. Sediqullah Atal made 64 off 45 balls. He hit three boundaries and the same number of sixes during the knock. No other batter could enter the double figures.
Faheem Ashraf was the most successful bowler with his career best performance of 4/27. Saim Ayub bagged one wicket.
Green shirts lead the points table with back-to-back wins against Afghanistan and the hosts United Arab Emirates (UAE). Afghanistan secured the second spot after defeating the hosts yesterday and now the table topper, Pakistan, by 18 runs.
Afghanistan Playing XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Karim Janat, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan (capt), Mohammad Nabi, AM Ghazanfar, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi
Pakistan Playing XI: Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Fakhar Zaman, Salman Agha (capt), Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Haris (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Sufiyan Muqeem
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