Report Afghan innings took figures of 5/36 to limit Afghanistan to 195. scored an unbeaten 70 guided Pakistan to a 7 wicket victory. Under a cloudless late afternoon sky at Sharjah, full to capacity with 14,000 spectators, The opening pair of
Karim Sadiq and
Noor Ali Zadran started brightly, with Sadiq scoring the first
boundary of the innings from the fourth ball with a flick off
Umar Gul. Zadran was dismissed midway through the fifth over, caught and bowled by Gul for 9.
Wicket-keeper Mohammad Shahzad joined Sadiq at the crease and the two batted aggressively against the opening bowlers of Gul and
Wahab Riaz. Sadiq recorded the first six of the match in the seventh over, striking a
slower ball from Gul over the
long on boundary. The following over Shahzad struck Riaz for three consecutive fours, which by the end of the eighth over took Afghanistan to 47, with a
run rate close to 6 runs per over. This aggressive start by the Afghan batsman against the opening bowlers prompted Pakistani captain
Misbah-ul-Haq to introduce spinner
Saeed Ajmal early to the attack in the ninth over. Karim Sadiq's 40 was the top score in the Afghan innings, while Afridi finished with figures with 5/36 from his ten overs. Gul and Riaz also chipped in with two wickets each, with Ajmal was the most economical bowler.
Pakistani innings Set 196 to win under the
floodlights, Pakistans innings started poorly when Hafeez was dismissed by Dawlat Zadran after edging back onto his stumps. Speaking after the match, Afghan captain Mangal stated that he thought Afghanistan were 40 runs short of an adequate total, while also commenting that he thought Afghanistan had performed satisfactorily, stating "This was our first-ever one-dayer against a top team and I am happy with the performance of the team". He also thanked the
Pakistan Cricket Board for giving them the opportunity to play Pakistan and requested the
International Cricket Council to provide them with more matches against Full Members. Misbah, also commenting during the presentation ceremony in which he accepted the victors trophy, stated, "I am really happy with the spirit of the Afghanistan players," expanding on that by commenting, "There were times in the match when they put us on the back foot and that was expected, so we did well to win in the end."
Summary Full scorecard ==References==