Overview:
Rashid Khan, playing in his 100th T20 for Afghanistan, top-scored for his team with 17, while Sediqullah Atal made 13.
SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Afghanistan were bowled for just 66 runs against Pakistan in the tri-series final. Chasing 142 runs, the Afghans couldn’t handle Mohammad Nawaz, who took a hat-trick in his team’s win of 75 runs. Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan was once again impressive, taking three wickets, but the veteran didn’t like the approach of his batters. Nawaz had Afghanistan on the mat with four wickets for just one run in his first two overs when he also had Karim Janat leg before wicket off a straight delivery before he rounded off a perfect night at Sharjah Cricket Stadium by claiming the wicket of Khan in his final over. Overall, he claimed five wickets in the contest.
Rashid Khan, playing in his 100th T20 for Afghanistan, top-scored for his team with 17, while Sediqullah Atal made 13. However, none of the other batters could reach double figures, as two specialist spinners, Sufiyan Muqeem (2-9) and Abrar Ahmed (2-17), also baffled the batters.
“I feel like that was a chaseable total, but we didn’t play the brand of cricket we wanted,” Khan said. “Losing five wickets inside the powerplay made it really hard to bounce back … we need to learn from these conditions ahead of the Asia Cup.”
Pakistan had earlier chosen to bat first and stuttered to 72-5 in the 12th over before Nawaz revived the innings by contributing 25 runs off 21 balls and sharing a 40-run stand with captain Salman Ali Agha, who made 24 before falling to Khan in the 17th over.
On a spinning wicket, Pakistan batters struggled, and Saim Ayub was limited to 17 runs off 19 balls, while Fakhar Zaman couldn’t read Khan’s straight delivery and was out plumb leg before wicket for 27 in 26 deliveries.
However, Pakistan’s template of relying on a fleet of all-rounders bailed them out and gave the team confidence ahead of the Asia Cup, which starts in the UAE on Tuesday.