Shahid Afridi hails Pakistan on their hard-fought win over Afghanistan in Asia Cup

Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have already perished against them and on Friday, Afghanistan also showed Pakistan how tough a unit they can be in the limited-over formats. It was only in the final overs of the match that the former champions prevailed over Asghar Afghan’s side to win the game by 3 wickets. After the thumping they received in hands of India on Wednesday, the win was all the more necessary for Sarfraz Ahmed’s team to remain in the title contention and they fought hard to earn it.

Experienced Shoaib Malik stood till the end to score an unbeaten 51 off 43 balls to drive his team, which was looking to fall short of the target of 258 even halfway into the penultimate over, home. This win meant Pakistan will be under lesser pressure against their second game of the Super Four stage on Sunday against India, who defeated Bangladesh by 7 wickets in another Super Four match on Friday.

Afridi praises Malik, Imam & Azam

Former Pakistan captain and dashing batsman Shahid Afridi was understandably elated over his side’s victory over a gritty Afghanistan side. Besides praising Malik for his knock, Afridi also applauded Imam-ul-Haq (80) and Babar Azam (66) who put up 154 runs for the second wicket after the first wicket fell for nought in the form of Fakhar Zaman (0) in the very first over. Afridi, 38, also conceded that Afghanistan fought hard in the match.

Great win Pakistan! What a game of cricket, Afghanistan fought hard. Masterful knock by Shoaib Malik. Well played Imam and Babar. Keep up the good work 🇵🇰

— Shahid Afridi (@SAfridiOfficial) September 21, 2018

Afghanistan bowlers, who demolished both the Lankans and Bangladeshis in the group stage, could not finish off the work in this game played in Abu Dhabi. Only spinners Rashid Khan (3 for 46) and Mujeeb Ur Rahman (2 for 33) did well but that was not enough to rein in the Pakistani batsmen. Afghanistan’s batsmen though have been doing consistently well, scoring 250 runs on an average in every game.

The tweet by Afridi, who played 398 ODIs for Pakistan, scoring over 8,000 runs and taking nearly 400 wickets, was liked by several fans.

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