KARACHI: Shafiqullah scored a brilliant hundred as the visiting Afghanistan cricket team beat Vital Five Cricket Club in a close match played at the Country Club Cricket Ground here on Sunday.

The 50-over match was played by the touring Afghanistan team as part of preparation for the ACC Trophy which will be played in Malaysia next month.

Afghanistan captain Muhammad Nabi won the toss and invited the VFCC team to bat first. The VFCC were bowled out for an impressive 260 in the allotted 50 overs with Asad Baig topscoring with 70 in just 65 ball with the help of four boundaries and a six. Rameez Aziz was also in fine form and hit a fluent 45 off 30 balls with four fours.

For Afghanistan, left arm spinner Usman Khan took 3 wickts for 30 runs and Muhammad Nabi took 2 for 25.

In reply, Afghanistan reached the target in the 46th over, mainly due to excellent batting from Shafiqullah who scored an exhilarating100 with the help of eight sixes and two fours. Other notable scorers were Usman Khan (37) and Muhammad Nabi (28). Right-arm medium pacer Noor Khan took three wickets for 22 runs while Waqar Anwer and Mudassir took one wicket each.

Nasir Masroor (Chief Collector South) was the chief guest on the occasion and gave away Man of the Match to Shafiqullah of Afghanistan for his brilliant century besides distributing other souvenirs.