Pakistan vs Afghanistan LIVE: ICC Cricket World Cup result and reaction as minnows earn surprising win
Afghanistan defeat Pakistan by eight wickets to claim second victory of the tournament
Pakistan’s up-and-down Cricket World Cup campaign continued today as they were beaten by Afghanistan in Chennai. Babar Azam won the toss and elected to bat first but his team failed to assert their dominance on the associate nation.
Afghanistan’s quartet of spin options restricted Pakistan to ones and twos while continuously taking wickets through the middle of the innings. Babar scored a fine 74 and some late innings hitting from Shadab Khan and Iftikhar Ahmed took the team to 282-7 at the halfway stage.
It seemed to be a challenging total but the Afghanistan batters made light work of it. Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran put on 130 for the first wicket with both openers scoring over 50 before being dismissed. Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi then combined through the middle overs, taking advantage of loose bowling and poor fielding to guide the team over the line with an over to spare.
Relive the updates from Chennai plus get the latest Cricket World Cup odds and tips right here:
Pakistan vs Afghanistan
0.3
Naveen-ul-Haq to Abdullah Shafique. Length ball, outside off stump on the front foot driving, thick edge in the air uncontrolled to deep backward point for 1 run, fielded by Omarzai.
Pakistan vs Afghanistan line-ups
Pakistan XI: Imam ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Muhammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Usama Mir, Hassan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf.
Afghanistan XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Ikram Alikhil, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Noor Ahmad.
Pakistan vs Afghanistan
0.2
Naveen-ul-Haq to Abdullah Shafique. Length ball, outside off stump on the front foot driving, to short extra cover for no runs, fielded by Zurmatai.
Pakistan vs Afghanistan
0.1
NEW BALL. Naveen-ul-Haq to Abdullah Shafique. Length ball, outside off stump on the front foot shoulders arms, shoulders arms for no runs, fielded by Khil.
Pakistan win the toss and choose to bat
Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi hopes to limit Pakistan to 250, saying: “Honestly, we wanted to bat first. When the toss is not in your favour, you have to play good cricket.
“We have one change. Farooqi is out and Noor Ahmad is in.
“We recently had a series with them in Sri Lanka, we wanted more spin options, we think it will be effective in these conditions. 250, we want to try and restrict them as much as we can.”
Pakistan win the toss and choose to bat
Pakistan captain Babar Azam at the toss: “The pitch looks quite dry so we would like to get some runs on the board.
“Shadab Khan comes back in for Nawaz, who has a fever. We have given 100% in all our matches and we are looking forward to doing the same today.
“I am asking my team to stand up and perform and believe in ourselves. We know how dangerous their spinners are so we are aware of that.”
Pakistan win the toss and choose to bat
Pakistan’s captain, Babar Azam, has won the coin toss and has decided to bat first against Afghanistan. That could turn out to be a crucial call if his team can post a big total.
Bowling Afghanistan out cheaply will help improve Pakistan’s net run-rate which could be a deciding factor for whichever team reaches the knockout rounds.
Pakistan vs Afghanistan
Follow live coverage of Pakistan vs Afghanistan from the ODI World Cup today.
The ICC Test Championship sees nine teams compete across a two-year cycle of matches before a two-team final decides the winner. The inaugural competition was won by New Zealand after a thrilling victory over India in June 2021.
The 50-over World Cup is far older and has been competed for since back in 1975. Australia are the record winners having run out victorious on five occasions (1987, 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2015). England took the 2019 crown after a dramatic Ben Stokes-inspired super-over win over New Zealand at Lord's.
The shortest form of the game sees teams compete in Twenty20. The newest format has been an instant global hit with a number of hugely-lucrative competitions massively popular all over the world. Australia are reigning world champions having taken victory in the 2021 tournament.
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