Pakistan vs Afghanistan, Asia Cup 2022, Super Four, Match 4, Stats Review: Mohammad Nabi’s feat, Babar Azam’s lean patch, and other stats

Naseem Shah struck two maximums in the final over as Pakistan defeated Afghanistan by just one wicket in a low-scoring thriller in the Super 4 round of Asia Cup 2022. Chasing just 130 and with 11 needed off the last six deliveries, Naseem hammered two full-tosses of Fazalhaq Farooqi into the stands in Sharjah to book his side’s place in the finals and eliminate both India and Afghanistan from the tournament. The summit clash will now be played between Pakistan and Sri Lanka on Sunday, September 11, 2022, in Dubai.

Talking about how this humdinger of a match panned out, skipper Babar Azam won the toss and opted to field first. Afghanistan openers Hazratullah Zazai and Rahmanullah Gurbaz made 21 and 17 runs respectively while Ibrahim Zadran top-scored for his team with knock of 35. Karim Janat amassed 15 while power-hitter Najibullah Zadran managed to score only 10. Captain Mohammad Nabi bagged a golden duck as he registered his eighth single-digit T20I score on the trot. All the Pakistani bowlers were amongst the wickets with Harif Rauf being the pick of the lot for his spell of 2/26 in four overs. The Men in Green restricted the Afghans to just 129/6 in 20 overs.

Chasing a small total, Babar’s horror run in this competition continued as he also got dismissed for a golden duck. Man in form Mohammad Rizwan got out LBW to Rashid Khan for 20 while Fakhar Zaman made just five. Iftikhar Ahmed mustered 30 with Shadab Khan top-scoring for his innings of 36 off 26 which included one four and three maximums. Asif Ali smashed 16 off eight with two maximums but when he got out Afghanistan sensed a sure-shot victory. A win looked inevitable for the Afghans but two massive blows from 19-year-old Naseem sealed the deal for Pakistan. With this, as mentioned above, India and Afghanistan are knocked out with Pakistan confirming the final date with Sri Lanka. For his spell of 1/27 and crucial 36 runs, Shadab Khan grabbed the Player of the Match award.

 Meanwhile, here are some of the important stats and numbers from Match 4 in Super 4 between Pakistan and Afghanistan in the Asia Cup 2022:

100 – Mohammad Nabi appeared in his landmark 100^th T20 international match. He became the first Afghanistan player to achieve the feat.

2 – Babar Azam got dismissed for a golden duck for the second time in 73 T20I innings. The other instance came against South Africa in Lahore in 2021.

8 – Nabi recorded his eighth consecutive single-digit score in T20Is. He has scored just 34 runs at an average of 4.25 in his last eight innings.

6 – Nabi is now tied with Rashid Khan at the top for registering the most ducks (6) for Afghanistan in T20Is.

2 – Fareed Ahmad scripted his second-best bowling figures of 3/31 in T20 internationals. His best performance of 3/14 came against Ireland this year itself.

2 – For the second time, Pakistan registered a one-wicket victory in the shortest international format. Their first instance came against Sri Lanka in Colombo (RPS) in the year 2015.

8.25 – Babar has now scored just 33 runs in four innings at a poor average of 8.25 with the highest score of 14 in the ongoing Asia Cup.

5 – For the fifth time, both captains got out for a duck in the same T20I match between the full-member sides. Other instances are England vs Australia in 2005, Sri Lanka vs New Zealand in 2013, Bangladesh vs Zimbabwe in 2015, and Pakistan vs Australia in 2018.

50 – Rahmanullah Gurbaz reached the landmark of 50 sixes in the shortest international format.

1 – Pakistan became the first team to defeat Afghanistan by a one-wicket margin in T20Is.

50 – Naseem Shah completed 50 wickets in T20 matches. He became the youngest pacer to achieve the feat  after Shaheen Afridi at the age of 19y 204d.