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ICC World Cup 2019: Twitter Reacts As Pakistan Clinch A Thriller Against Afghanistan

Afghanistan vs Pakistan
(Photo by Lindsey Parnaby / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo credit should read LINDSEY PARNABY/AFP/Getty Images)

Pakistan kept their hopes in the ongoing ICC World Cup 2019 alive beating Afghanistan banking on Imad Wasim and Wahab Riaz’s late carnage at Headingley in Leeds. The Pakistan lower-order kept their nerves to steal the tie with two balls to spare and three wickets in hand.

Batting first, individual contributions helped Afghanistan post a challenging total on the board. Skipper Gulbadin Naib and Rahmat Shah got off to a steady start before Pakistan’s young fast bowler Shaheen Afridi bounced back. Imad Wasim too joined the party to have Afghanistan at 57 for three before former skipper Asghar Afghan and Ikram Ali Khil revived the innings to cross the 100-run mark. Asghar, in particular, looked in control of things, taking on the Pakistan bowlers.

ICC World Cup 2019: Twitter Reacts As Pakistan Clinch A Thriller Against Afghanistan
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Sarfaraz Ahmed & Co didn’t let Afghanistan cut loose as they struck back to back to have them at 154 for five removing both the set batsmen. While it looked like Afghanistan were once again for a batting debacle, Najibullah Zadran held the stead from one end to take the score over the 200-run mark. He chipped in with 42 runs before Shaheen Afridi cleaned off the tail to restrict them for 221 runs.

Pakistan got off to the worst possible start losing Fakhar Zaman in the second ball of the innings. Mujeeb-ur-Rahman has been stunning with the new ball and once again proved his calibre. Since then, Babar Azam and Imam-ul-Haq led the charge to bail their team out of danger. Both of them threw their wicket to Mohammad Nabi after getting their eyes in to lead the downslide. Afghanistan capitalised on the opportunity to keep picking wickets consistently as Pakistan batters showed lack of experience throwing away wickets after getting starts.

ICC World Cup 2019: Twitter Reacts As Pakistan Clinch A Thriller Against Afghanistan
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Afghanistan spinners, who have done a terrific job in the last two matches, continued to keep up the excellent work. But Imad Wasim played a blinder of a knock to bring down the equations taking skipper Gulbadin Naib for 18 runs off the 46th over. Wahab Riaz also combined well with Imad to clinch a thriller to keep Pakistan’s hope of making it to the semifinals alive.

Twitter Reactions

https://twitter.com/DanishSait/status/1145002960298151936

https://twitter.com/RanaAyyub/status/1144996089642098694

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Ankush Das

I am an accountant by qualification, my parents thought their obedient son would study further to become a CA, but I had other things in mind. An ardent Cricket fan is following his passion and making a living watching and working around his favorite sport.

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