Cricket, the sport making its first appearance in the multi-sport event, the 2010 Asian Games finally had its first shocking result.
Afghanistan defeated gold medal favourites Pakistan by a shocking 22 run margin. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Afghanistan-c745 restricted Pakistan to 103 runs for the loss of seven wickets in 20 overs as they piled up a modest total of 125 for the loss of eight
wickets earlier Thursday.
The Guanggong International Cricket Stadium at Guangzhou resounded with applause for the men from the war torn nation as they celebrated their win to book their place in the final.
Pakistan won the toss and elected to field first as Captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Khalid-Latif-c71261 made a defensive move as noticed some tinges of green on the wicket.
Afghanistan’s openers Mohammad Shahzad and Karim Sadiq strode into the field and gave a confident start to their side. Shahzad (17) and Sadiq (19) both smashed two boundaries and a six to give a steady anchor to their team. The
Pakistani bowlers tried hard to slash the Afghan wickets delivering short balls however, the openers managed to avoid them all. Afghanistan looked very comfortable and relaxed though the Pakistani Captain seemed to lose his cool as he kept on shouting at the
fielders.
But good news came for the captain as he caught the ball off Mohammad Irshad’s delivery as the partnership of Sadiq and Shahzad was broken. After two balls, the second wicket also fell and Pakistan looked in good position.
However, the highest scoring batsman, Shabir Noori (35 off 30 balls) gave a hard time to the men in green shirts as he smashed two boundaries and two sixs. Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals but Noori kept his ground
till his side reached 100. The tail-enders Samiullah Shenwari and Hamid Hassan remained unbeaten as they gave a target of 126 to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 in 20 overs.
The Pakistani bowling attack included http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Lal-Kumar-c72135 (24 runs) who picked up two wickets each.
In reply, the Pakistani openers http://www.senore.com/Cricket/A-Dent-c41093 in the opener’s partnership as
he took the wicket of Khan.
A heated argument between Pakistani captain and Afghani wicketkeeper Mohammad Shahzad broke in as he appealed a bit too loudly for the Captain’s liking. However, Mohammad Nabi made a calculated approach and Latif fell right into
the trap.
The winning team’s spinning attackers including all-rounders Karim Sadiq and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hamid-Hassan-c1524 took key wickets and forced the green shirts to take singles as they registered a 22 run victory over early favourites Pakistan.
This was the first official international clash between the two countries and Afghanistan came out victorious as they are now eying their first gold medal in the games.
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