Leeds: Pakistan survived a mighty scare to continue their surge towards the World Cup semifinals with Imad Wasim (49 n o) showing nerves of steel to guide them to a tense three-wicket win over Afghanistan, here Saturday.
In heart-stopping action, the gritty Afghanistan yet again came close to creating a big upset but were denied by Wasim, who emerged an unlikely batting hero along with Wahab Riaz (15 n o), who hit a timely six off Rashid Khan (1/50) to release the pressure.
Wasim perhaps played the biggest knock of his life, soaking in tremendous pressure as Pakistan huffed and puffed to win with two balls to spare.
The Afghanistan spinners turned the match on its head by reducing Pakistan to 156/6 and the modest 228-run target was now looking like a mountain to scale for the 1992 champions.
Earlier, Pakistan bowlers did not exactly dominate the Afghanistan batsmen but pacer Shaheen Afridi’s (4/47) heroics with the ball helped them limit the gritty rivals to 227/9 in their must-win game.
Brief scores: Afghanistan 227/9 (Nazibullah Zadran 42, Asghar Afghan 42; Shaheen Afridi 4/47) lost to Pakistan 230/7 (Imad Wasin 49 n o, Babar Azam 45; Mohammed Nabi 2/23) by three wickets.
Violence mars game
However, fans of both the sides clashed during the match after pro-Balochistan banners flew above the Headingley ground, prompting the ICC to promise an investigation into the matter in collaboration with West Yorkshire police.
While one message read ‘Help end disappearances in Pakistan’, the other said ‘Justice for Balochistan’. The ICC has taken note of both the incidents.
