Naseem Shah hit a boundary off the penultimate delivery to secure Pakistan a stunning one-wicket victory over a luckless Afghanistan in the second One-Day International at Hambantota on Thursday.
The 20-year-old miscued a boundary off fast bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi and rushed jubilantly to the dressing room as Pakistan finished with 302-9 in 49.5 overs.
The victory gives Pakistan an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series, which concludes on Saturday in Colombo.
Pakistan’s late surge eclipsed Afghanistan’s 300-5 in 50 overs with opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s career-best run-a-ball 151.
The final two overs of Pakistan’s chase were tense.
Shadab Khan, who struck Abdul Rahman for a boundary and six off the last two balls of the 49th over, pulled them closer to victory.
Farooqi added to the drama by running out Shadab with his first delivery of the final over after the batsman backed up too much and was caught by Mankad.
However, Naseem Shah won with boundaries off the first and fifth deliveries.
Naseem Shah smashed the same bowler for two last-over sixes, giving Pakistan a one-wicket victory.
Shadab’s 35-ball 48, which included three boundaries and a six, resurrected Pakistan’s chase in the closing overs, with his team down at 258-7.
Prior to the comeback, Imam-ul-Haq’s 105-ball 91 with four boundaries laid the groundwork.
Haq put on a solid 52-run stand with fellow opener Fakhar Zaman (30) and another 118-run stand with skipper Babar Azam, who hit six boundaries in 66 balls which is very helpful before the ICC World Cup 2023.
From 170-1 in the 31st over, Afghanistan responded by taking five wickets in 41 runs to force Pakistan to 211-6.
Farooqi caught Azam on a miscued flick, while spinner Mohammad Nabi caught Agha Salman (14) and Usama Mir (naught) in the same over. As Pakistan slipped further, Mohammad Rizwan was run out for two.
Mujeeb Ur Rahman, another spinner, dismissed Haq in the next over, leaving Pakistan in trouble before Afghanistan ran out of time.
Earlier, after Afghanistan won the toss and batted, the 21-year-old Gurbaz shared an opening stand of 227 with Ibrahim Zadran, who hit a 101-ball 80.
Gurbaz smacked 14 boundaries and three sixes against a world-class attack that had limited Afghanistan to 59 in the opening game on Tuesday.
Gurbaz’s previous high was 145 against Bangladesh last month in Chattogram.
Zadran also performed admirably, hitting six boundaries and two sixes.
Usama Mir broke the opening stand in the 40th over when he caught Zadran at long off, while pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi caught Gurbaz behind in the 45th over.
Shaheen also had Rashid out for two, bringing her total to 2-58.
Nabi hit a run-a-ball 29 before being caught by Naseem Shah as Afghanistan scored 73 runs in the final 10 overs.
Haris Rauf, who had a career-high 5-18 in the earlier game, went for 48 in seven overs without success.
