Afghanistan stun Pakistan at Cricket World Cup

CHENNAI, India (AP):

Afghanistan created another big upset at the Cricket World Cup as they thumped struggling Pakistan by eight wickets yesterday to win two games at the same edition of the tournament for the first time.

After stunning England eight days ago, the ninth-ranked Afghans celebrated only their third-ever win at the World Cup, the other coming against Scotland in 2015 in their first appearance.

An aggressive 130-run opening stand between Ibrahim Zadran (87) and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (65) orchestrated Afghanistan’s 286 for two in 49 overs against out-of-sorts Pakistan’s pace and spin bowling.

Rahmat Shah and captain Hashmatullah Shahidi built on the solid first-wicket stand by sharing an unbeaten 96-run, third-wicket stand. Shah remained unbeaten on 77, while Shahidi scored 48 not out as he raised the victory with a boundary against Shaheen Afridi at square leg.

“At the start of the tournament we said that we are going to make this World Cup historic for our country. First it was England, and now Pakistan,” Shahidi said. “This win tastes nice. The way we chased today, it was very professional.”

Pakistan, who won the toss and elected to bat, made 282 for seven against a spin-heavy quartet, with captain Babar Azam (74) and Abdullah Shafique (58) scoring half-centuries.

“They hurt us,” Babar said. “We had a good total, but in the bowling we were not up to the mark. All credit to the Afghanistan team, the way they played. We couldn’t take wickets in the middle overs and our bowlers didn’t hit the right lengths – especially spinners.”

The jubilant Afghanistan players were applauded by the crowd at the Chidambaram Stadium as they took the victory lap, with star legspinner Rashid Khan having the country’s flag wrapped around his shoulder.

It was Pakistan’s first loss in an ODI against Afghanistan, which bettered their previous highest successful One-day International chase of 274 made against United Arab Emirates nine years ago.

A third successive loss pushed Pakistan into a must-win situation for a place in the semi-finals with only four points from five matches. Afghanistan also kept their slim hopes alive with four points in as many games as they moved into the No. 6 spot, behind Pakistan on net run rate, leaving England at the bottom of the table.

Pakistan have struggled to make up for the absence of Naseem Shah after the fast bowler was ruled out for the tournament due to a shoulder injury.

The pace trio of Shaheen Afridi, Hasan Ali and Haris Rauf couldn’t strike early and let Gurbaz and Zadran score at a brisk pace in the powerplay.

The selection of two leg spinners – Shadab Khan and Usama Mir – also backfired, as both spinners bowled plenty of full tosses and couldn’t find their lengths.