Afghanistan showed that it will not be a pushover in the World Cup, with a stunning three-wicket win against Pakistan in a warm-up game in Bristol on Friday.
Young middle-order batsman Hashmatullah Shahidi played the role of sheet anchor to perfection with an unbeaten 74 as Afghanistan chased down a below-par target of 263 with two balls to spare.
As it happened| Afghanistan stuns Pakistan in World Cup warm-up, Shahidi and Nabi shine
The Indian Premier League stars Mohammed Nabi (3/46) and Rashid Khan (2/27) set it up by restricting Pakistan to well below 300, before Shahidi’s composure saw Afghanistan over the finishing line despite some late hiccups. Nabi's 34 off 41 balls, including three boundaries, was the perfect foil to Shahidi.
Hazrtullah Zazai had got Afghanistan's run chase off to a flying start with a quickfire 49 off 28 balls with eight fours and two sixes. It was after Mohammed Shahzad had retired hurt for 23. Wahab Riaz was the pick of the bowlers for Pakistan, returning figures of three for 46.
Earlier, Pakistan rode on in-form Babar Azam's 112 off 108 balls to reach, what at the time, looked like a competitive score. However he found little support from his team-mates, save Shoaib Malik's 44 off 59 balls.
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