Ice-cool Imad inspires Pakistan to thrilling victory

LEEDS: Pakistan fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi celebrates taking the wicket of Afghanistan’s Hashmatullah Shahidi during their match at Headingley on Saturday.—Reuters

LEEDS: Imad Wasim hit a boundary to finish off a three-wicket win with two balls to spare against Afghanistan and lifted Pakistan above England into fourth spot on the World Cup standings on Saturday.

Wasim finished unbeaten on 49 with Pakistan on 230-7 and shared important lower-order partnerships of 50 with Shadab Khan (11) and 24 with No. 9 Wahab Riaz, who was unbeaten on 15.

With Pakistan needing 16 runs off 11 balls, Wahab hit a six off Rashid Khan and then ran a risky two despite the two unnecessary run outs of Shadab and captain Sarfraz Ahmed that compounded pressure earlier in the innings.

A small group of fans spilled onto the field at Headingley to congratulate the players, waving flags and causing all kinds of issues for the security.

Teenage paceman Shaheen Afridi took 4-47 earlier as Pakistan restricted Afghanistan to 227-9 in an important start to the game. It was a record eighth consecutive loss for Afghanistan and a second narrow defeat to a regional rival they followed an 11-run loss to two-time champions India.

Pakistan, after being trounced in their opening game, has beaten South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan to move into the semifinal positions on nine points from eight games, one ahead of England.

It was a seesawing game at Leeds. After losing Fakhar Zaman on the second ball of the run chase, trapped lbw by Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Pakistan was coasting with Imam-ul-Haq (36) and Babar Azam (45) sharing a 72-run second-wicket stand until Mohammad Nabi struck twice to remove both established batters in consecutive overs.

Imam was stumped on the last ball of the 16th over when he charged Nabi, missing a quicker, wider ball and was easily out of his ground when wicket-keeper Ikram Ali Khil whipped off the bails.

Babar attempted to sweep a fuller delivery at the start of the 18th over and was bowled.

Still, they were in a comfortable position at 103-3 halfway through the overs until wickets started dropping and the run-rate escalating.

Haris Sohail had a reprieve at the end of the 28th over when Afghanistan appealed loudly for a leg-side caught behind, but umpire Nigel Llong ruled not out and neither team had any referrals left. TV replays showed there was a fine edge.

But just when all the momentum seemed to be going entirely Pakistan’s way, 18-year-old Mujeeb started a new spell in the 30th over and immediately had Mohammad Hafeez (19) caught at point.

Haris laboured to 27 from 57 deliveries before being trapped lbw by Rashid Khan, making it 142-5 in the 35th, and captain Sarfraz’s inexplicable run out for 18 in the 39th made it 156-6. That left Pakistan needing 72 off 11 overs with only four wickets in hand.

The Pakistani seventh-wicket pair took 18 runs off the 46th over to cut the asking rate to 28 from 24 balls.

But Shadab’s run out in the 47th over again set up a tense finish.

The neighbouring countries were meeting for the first time at a World Cup.

Scoreboard

AFGHANISTAN:

Batsmen & mode of dismissals R B 4s 6s SR

Rahmat Shah c Babar b Imad 35 43 5 0 81.39
Gulbadin Naib c Sarfraz b Shaheen 15 12 3 0 125.00
Hashmatullah Shahidi c Imad b Shaheen 0 1 0 0 0.00
Ikram Alikhil c Hafeez b Imad 24 66 1 0 36.36
Asghar Afghan b Shadab 42 35 3 2 120.00
Mohammad Nabi c Amir b Wahab 16 33 0 0 48.48
Najibullah Zadran b Shaheen 42 54 6 0 77.77
Samiullah Shenwari not out 19 32 1 0 59.37
Rashid Khan c Fakhar b Shaheen 8 12 1 0 66.66
Hamid Hassan b Wahab 1 3 0 0 33.33
Mujeeb Ur Rahman not out 7 9 1 0 77.77

EXTRAS (LB-8, W-10) 18 - - - --

TOTAL (for nine wkts, 50 overs) 227 - - - --

FALL OF WKTS: 1-27 (Gulbadin, 4.4 ov), 2-27 (Hashmatullah, 4.5 ov), 3-57 (Rahmat, 11.6 ov), 4-121 (Asghar, 25.2 ov), 5-125 (Ikram, 26.6 ov), 6-167 (Nabi, 36.4 ov), 7-202 (Najibullah, 44.4 ov), 8-210 (Rashid, 46.4 ov), 9-219 (Hamid, 48.2 ov).

BOWLING: Imad Wasim 10-0-48-2; Mohammad Amir 10-1-41-0 (1w); Shaheen Shah Afridi 10-0-47-4 (4w); Mohammad Hafeez 2-0-10; Wahab Riaz 8-0-29-2 (4w); Shadab Khan 10-0-44-1 (1w).

PAKISTAN:

Batsmen & mode of dismissals R B 4s 6s SR

Fakhar Zaman lbw b Mujeeb 0 2 0 0 0.00
Imam-ul-Haq st Ikram b Nabi 36 51 4 0 70.58
Babar Azam b Nabi 45 51 5 0 88.23
Mohammad Hafeez c Hashmatullah b Mujeeb 19 35 1 0 54.28
Haris Sohail lbw b Rashid 27 57 2 0 47.36
Sarfraz Ahmed run out 18 22 1 0 81.81
Imad Wasim not out 49 54 5 0 90.74
Shadab Khan run out 11 17 1 0 64.70
Wahab Riaz not out 15 8 1 1 166.66

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-4, W-5) 10 - - - --

TOTAL (for seven wkts, 49.4 overs) 230 - - - --

FALL OF WKTS: 1-0 (Fakhar, 0.2 ov), 2-72 (Imam, 15.6 ov), 3-81 (Babar, 17.2 ov), 4-121 (Hafeez, 29.1 ov), 5-142 (Haris, 34.6 ov), 6-156 (Sarfraz, 38.6 ov), 7-206 (Shadab, 46.4 ov).

DID NOT BAT: Mohammad Amir, Shaheen Shah Afridi.

BOWLING: Mujeeb Ur Rahman 10-1-34-2; Hamid Hassan 2-0-13-0; Gulbadin Naib 9.4-0-73-0 (1w); Mohammad Nabi 10-0-23-2; Rashid Khan 10-0-50-1 (3w); Samiullah Shenwari 8-0-32-0 (1w).

RESULT: Pakistan won by three wickets.

UMPIRES: N.J. Llong (England) and P. Wilson (Australia).

TV UMPIRE: C.B. Gaffaney (New Zealand).

MATCH REFEREE: B.C. Broad (England).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Imad Wasim.

STANDINGS

(Tabulated under played, won, lost, no-result, points, net run-rate):

Australia 7 6 1 0 12 +0.906

India 6 5 0 1 11 +1.160

New Zealand 7 5 1 1 11 +1.028

Pakistan 8 4 3 1 9 -0.792

England 7 4 3 0 8 +1.051