Watch: Pakistan beat Afghanistan by 59 runs in the third and final ODI of the three-match series to complete a whitewash, despite an unexpected late blitz from Mujeeb Ur Rahman at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo yesterday (August 26).
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Pakistan batted first after winning the toss and Fakhar Zaman’s woes with the bat in this series continued as he fell for another sub-30 score. Imam-ul-Haq, who had scored fifties in each of the first two games, was dismissed for 13 in the third, leaving Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan to do the rescue job, which they did.
Babar and Rizwan both scored sixties: 60 (86) and 67 (79) respectively, as they stitched a 110-run third-wicket partnership to take Pakistan to safety. Lower-order contributions from Salman Agha and Mohammad Nawaz meant Pakistan were able to finish at a competitive total of 268-8. Gulbadin Naib, the comeback man, picked two wickets for 36, while Fareed Ahmad picked 2-70.
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In response, Afghanistan lost their star opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the sixth over. If that was not enough of a setback, they then lost Ibrahim Zadran in the tenth, both to Faheem Ashraf. Hashmatullah Shahidi (13 off 31) and Shahidullah (37 off 65) tried to resurrect the chase but to no avail as Afghanistan slipped to 97-7.
That is when Mujeeb Ur Rahman 2.0 arrived and sent the Pakistan bowlers on a leather hunt. He hit five fours and five sixes en route to a 37-bal 64and became the fastest Afghan half-centurion in ODIs in the process, reaching fifty off just 26 balls.
It was too little, too late, however, as Shaheen Afridi came back for his last spell and took the final two wickets to bowl Afghanistan out for 209, securing a 59-run victory that took them to the top of the table in the ICC ODI team rankings.
