Harish Rauf grabs five wickets as Afghanistan folds for 59

Harish Rauf grabs five wickets as Afghanistan folds for 59

Afghanistan’s spinners did well to limit Pakistan to 201 runs, but the squad had no solutions in the chase, folding within 20 overs.

By 142 runs, Pakistan 201 (Imam 61, Iftikhar 30, Mujeeb 3-31, Nabi 2-34, Rashid 2-42) defeated Afghanistan 59 (Rauf 5-18, Afridi 2-9).

Fast bowlers with batters bouncing and swaying away are the perfect match for spinners with batters in a tangle. On Tuesday at Hambantota, the delight of watching bowlers do their thing reached a peak, with Pakistan bowling out Afghanistan for 59 to record a huge win.

First, Afghanistan’s spin combination of Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Rashid Khan, and Mohammad Nabi spun Pakistan out for 201. Then, in the first ODI, Pakistan’s pace trio of Haris Rauf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, and Naseem Shah put forth a blazing performance to skittle Afghanistan out for their second lowest ODI score, winning by 142 runs.

After Afridi and Naseem initiated the Afghan collapse, Rauf took five wickets for 18 runs, his greatest ODI haul. In his second over, Afridi bounced Ibrahim Zadran out before Rahmat Shah flicked a full toss to short midwicket off his next ball. With his strong pace and movement, Naseem kept Gurbaz on a leash and dismissed Hashmatullah Shahidi off a bouncer. It grew on Shahidi, who tried for the draw and nearly cleared front square leg. Shadab Khan, on the other hand, leaped to his left and lobbed the ball high, before grabbing it in a single motion while falling down to dismiss Afghanistan’s captain.

With three of the top four batters out for ducks, the rest of Afghanistan’s batting display was also underwhelming. Rauf opened his spell with a nip-backer that Ikram Alikhil inside-edged to the wicketkeeper in his first ODI since November 2019. Gurbaz was never at ease throughout his stay and floated an outside edge to the wicketkeeper for 18, the innings’ highest score.

Even as Rauf raced through the middle order and finished with a five-for after Mujeeb miscued one to mid-on, Azmatullah Omarzai attacked his way to 16 off 12 with three fours before retiring hurt.

Earlier, Babar Azam won the toss and chose to bat on a dry pitch, but Pakistan were reduced to 7 for 2 in two overs. Fazalhaq Farooqi, a left-arm pacer, harassed Fakhar Zaman with swing before nicking him off to slip. On the second ball, he slid in an inswinging yorker before getting one to move away, which Fakhar couldn’t resist prodding. Mujeeb opened the bowling and slipped one full in line of the stumps that skidded on, beating Babar’s defense and lbw for a three-ball blob.

Mohammad Rizwan, who batted at No. 5 in the previous series against New Zealand, seemed confident from the start. In the sixth over, he hit Farooqi for two fours. He lofted a full ball through the space at extra cover first, then caressed one through the same location a ball later. Off Farooqi’s next over, Rizwan struck two more fours to boost Pakistan’s run-rate.

However, Mujeeb trapped Rizwan lbw in his fourth over to send Pakistan back. He hurled a carrom ball around his leg, which Rizwan missed in his attempt to defend to the on side, causing him to get hit in the rear leg. Replays revealed that it would have clipped the bails. After a good series against New Zealand at home in May, Agha Salman got trapped before being stumped by Rashid’s googly as Pakistan slumped to 62 for 4.

All the meantime, Imam-ul-Haq kept going, punishing Farooqi’s errant balls but, more significantly, playing Mujeeb, Rashid, and Nabi’s spin off the back foot. His half-century was a true graft, as it only featured the two fours. Even as wickets fell around him, he ran brilliantly between the stumps.

But, in an attempt to up the ante against Nabi, he top-edged one as he approached the track. Shahidi, on the other hand, couldn’t hold on after racing back from cover. Imam was given another chance as Omarzai cracked a lofted drive to deep cover before a miscued draw landed just short of long-on going in. Imam’s luck ran out when he attempted to hit Nabi over mid-on and miscued a shot to Rashid, who collected a falling catch after backpedaling.

Imam found an able ally in Iftikhar Ahmed, with whom he scored 50 off 69 for the fifth wicket, and then in Shadab for a 40-run stand during his spell in the middle.

By exploiting the crease against spin and knocking them down for singles and doubles, Iftikhar helped lead Pakistan’s revival. He didn’t let short and wide deliveries go unpunished, hitting two fours with the cut shot. Nabi, on the other hand, chipped a catch to short midwicket off an offspinning delivery that held up in the surface.

Shadab, on the other hand, selected Rashid’s googly early and smacked him over the head in only his fourth ODI in 2023. He added 34 more runs with Naseem for the ninth wicket before being run-out at the bowler’s end by a direct hit from Mujeeb from fine leg.

Afghanistan bowled out Pakistan for the first time in ODIs, but a weak batting surrender means their wait for their first ODI win against their opponents continues.