Afghanistan beat Pakistan to enter final of Asian Games cricket
Afghanistan stunned http://www.senore.com/Cricket/China-c40996 saw Afghanistan win the T20
encounter by 22 runs despite the opposition going into the game as a much more fancied team.
Pakistan won the toss and chose to field first on a rather difficult pitch. Mohammad Shahzad and Karim Sadiq opened the innings for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Afghanistan-c745 and added 35 for the first wicket but the track did not allow
them to get the runs too quickly. Unfortunately, just when it looked like they had seen through the difficult period, Sadiq fell off the bowling of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Irshad-c76990.
The openers had added 35 runs for the first wicket but this was followed by a procession of wickets as they lost four for the addition of 20. It was 55/4 at this stage and inexperienced Shabir Noori was joined
by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Asghar-Stanikzai-c1094 in the centre.
The pair added a fruitful 46 for the fifth wicket to allow the side to get beyond 100. Noori, who had started off slowly hit a couple of sixes towards the end to propel the side to 100 before a late-order
collapse saw the Afghanistan side restricted to only 125. Noori top-scored with 35 off 30 balls.
The target of 126 was never expected to be difficult for the much stronger Pakistani side. They looked set for a win as well as first, captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sharjeel-Khan-c89775
and then took the score on to 60/1 with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Azeem-Ghumman-c1112. At this stage, the Pakistanis needed only 66 to win the game with nine wickets standing and should have won it in a canter.
As it turned out, Latif’s wicket off the bowling of Mohammad Nabi put the cat amongst the pigeons. Wickets began to tumble rather regularly and 60/1 soon became 77/5 and with the overs fast running out, the
target was beyond the reach of the Pakistani tail-enders.
Apart from Shapoor Zadran, none of the other Afghanistan bowlers conceded more than 5.5 runs per over with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hamid-c61327 Hassan’s 2/16 off his four overs being the best in the game and turning the match around on
its head.
Afghanistan have now reached the final of the tournament and will play the winner of the other semi-final between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747. This is the first time that cricket has been included as a part
of the Asian Games.
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