Pakistan will face Afghanistan in the last ODI of the three-match series on Saturday in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The men in green have won the series and are likely to do experiments in the last ODI.
After having a one-sided victory in the first ODI, Pakistan continued their superb form and defeated Afghanistan in the second ODI in a last-over thriller.
Naseem Shah took Pakistan over the line in the last over as they needed 11 off 6.
While chasing the target of 301 runs, Pakistan lost Fakhar Zaman for just 52 runs but it was Imam-ul-Haq and skipper Babar Azam, who formed a 118-run stand and got their team in a dominant position.
After Babar departed, the wickets kept falling for the green shirts but Shadab Khan helped his side get back in the game once again by scoring 48 off 35.
The last over had all the drama. Fazalhaq Farooqui was running to bowl the first delivery but he suddenly removed the stumps on the non-striker’s end after watching Shadab Khan leaving the crease. He faced immense backlash for mankading Shadab who was looking dangerous.
After Shadab’s bizarre dismissal, Naseem took charge of Pakistan’s batting and led them to a victory.
Meanwhile, in the first innings, Afghanistan opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz scored 151 runs to help Afghanistan post 300-5 in 50 overs.
After deciding to bat first, Afghanistan’s opening pair of Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran scored 227 runs together. It was Afghanistan’s second-highest ODI partnership.
Pakistan’s likely lineup for third ODI
Imam-ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam (c), Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Haris (wk), Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf.
