Afghanistan vs Pakistan in Sri Lanka 3rd ODI Stats Review: Pakistan's dominance over Afghanistan, Mujeeb ur Rahman's fastest fifty and other stats

Gritty fifties from Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan followed by all-round bowling display led by Shadab Khan helped Pakistan beat Afghanistan by 59 runs despite the fastest fifty by Mujeeb Ur Rahman in the third match at R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Pakistan have white-washed Afghanistan 3-0.

Speaking about the game, Pakistan won the toss and opted to bat. Both the openers, Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq got off to a decent start but could not capitalise on further, as Gulbadin Naib struck twice to send both openers back to the hut inside 13 overs. Fakhar Zaman scored 27 while Imam nicked one to the keeper for 13 runs.

The duo of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan then added a century partnership for the third wicket. Babar Azam (60 off 86) registered his 28^th fifty before Rashid Khan broke the good going partnership while Mohammad Rizwan scored 67 off 79 before  Fareed Ahmad trapped him in front. Saud Shakeel and Shadab Khan went back after a short stay, Shakeel was dismissed run-out for 9 while Mujeeb Cleaned up Shadab Khan for 3.  

Cameos from Agha Salman (38* off 31) and Mohammad Nawaz (30 off 25) down the order helped Pakistan post a good total of 268/8 in 50 overs. For Afghanistan, Fareed Amad and Gulbadin Naib picked two wickets each

Chasing 269, Afghanistan lost both their previous game star performers, Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz cheaply for 0 and 5 courtesy of a stellar bowling display from Faheem Ashraf and were left at 30/2 at the end of the powerplay. Riaz Hassan and skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi added 30 runs for the third wicket before Shadab Khan before Shadab Khan struck twice in an over to send both Shahidi and Hassan back to the hut.

Wickets kept falling at one end and at the other end, Shahidullah Kamal racked up 37 runs off 65 balls, he along with Mujeeb Ur Rahman added 57 runs for the 8^th wicket to reduce the defeat margin, while Mujeeb recorded the fastest fifty for Afghanistan in ODI with masterclass stoke play, helping them go past 200. Pakistan defeated Afghanistan by 59 runs to finish the series 3-0. Shadab Khan was the pick of bowlers for his spell of 3/42, while Ashraf Afridi and Nawaz all picked up two wickets each.

Let us look at the stats and numbers from Third ODI between Afghanistan and Pakistan:

7 -Pakistan have clearly dominated Afghanistan in the ODI by winning all seven games.

26 -Mujeeb Ur Rahman recorded the fastest fifty by Afghanistan player in ODI, he achieved this feat in 26 balls surpassing Rashid Khan’s tally of 27 balls which came against Ireland way back in 2020/21.

64 -Mujeeb Scored 64 runs in the game today, the highest score by an Afghan batter while playing at number 9. Rashid Khan is next on the list with an unbeaten 57 against Bangladesh in 2018 in Abu Dhabi.

64 -Mujeeb recorded his highest ODI score of 64 in his 64^th ODI.

64 -The score of 64 from Mujeeb is the highest score by a batter while batting at 9 or below in ODI in Colombo (R. Premadasa Stadium). Richard Snell is next on the list with 51 against Sri Lanka in 1993.

1 -Mujeeb ur Rahman becomes the first Afghan player to be dismissed hit out.

3 -Babar Azam now has 20 fifty-plus scores in ODI as captain, the third most by a Pakistani captain he surpassed Imran Khan’s tally of 19. Misbah-ul-Haq and Inzamam-ul-Haq are ahead of him with 27 and 21 fifty-plus scores, respectively.

9 -Mohammad Rizwan has 9 fifty-plus scores as wicketkeeper, the fourth most by a Pakistan Wicket Keeper surpassing Umar Akmal’s tally of 8.  Kamran Akmal (15), Sarfraz Ahmed (13 and Moin Khan (11) are the top three in the list.

1 -Mujeeb registered his first fifty in International cricket.