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Pakistan registered a 3-0 whitewash against Afghanistan in the recently concluded ODI series. Here are the player ratings for the Pakistan players that featured in the series.
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Fifteen Pakistan players played across the three ODIs against Afghanistan. While they were given a run for their money in each of the three matches, Pakistan eventually managed to come out trumps, showcasing their superior ability to handle pressure than their Afghan counterparts. Here’s how each of the 15 Pakistan players performed.
Fakhar Zaman – 2.5/10
3 innings, 59 runs @ 19.66, SR: 83.09, 0 fifties, 0 hundreds
Zaman had a disappointing three matches where he managed a top score of 30. He had come into the series on the back of exceptional form in ODIs this year, having already scored three centuries from eight games before this series but couldn’t manage to get going at all.
Imam-ul-Haq – 8/10
3 innings, 165 runs @ 55, SR: 72.05, 2 fifties, 0 hundreds
Imam was the second-highest run-scorer of the series and the highest for Pakistan. He was the lone man standing in the first match, scoring 61 off 94 balls to take Pakistan across 200, which eventually proved to be enough. In the second game, he anchored the chase with 91 off 105 balls.
Babar Azam – 6/10
3 innings, 113 runs @ 37.66, SR: 72.90, 2 fifties, 0 hundreds
After registering a duck in the first game, the Pakistan captain came back strongly, scoring two back-to-back half-centuries. However, he will be disappointed at not having converted any of those to a three-figure score given his lofty standards, and his strike-rate was a little sluggish.
Mohammad Rizwan – 5.5/10
3 innings, 90 runs @ 30, SR: 83.33, 1 fifty, 0 hundreds
Rizwan struggled to find rhythm in the first two games before finally getting a big score in the third. His 67 off 79 balls in the final ODI where he stitched a 110-run third-wicket partnership with Babar went a long way in laying the platform for Pakistan to get a defendable total on the board.
Salman Agha – 6/10
3 innings, 59 runs @ 29.50, SR: 78.66, 0 fifties
1 innings, 1 wicket @ 3, ER: 1.50, BBI: 1-3
Salman got with the bat as the series progressed. From starting the series with a painstakingly slow seven off 29 balls in the first match, he ended it with a 31-ball cameo of 38 in the third. To go with his runs, he also took the wicket of Gulbadin Naib in the final ODI, showing his usefulness with both bat and ball.
Iftikhar Ahmed – 3/10
2 innings, 47 runs @ 23.50, SR: 72.30, 0 fifties
1 innings, 0 wickets, ER: 6, BBI: 0-24
Iftikhar played the first two matches and didn’t have much of an impact. His highest score with the bat was 30 and he went at a strike rate of less than 75 across the two games. Even with the ball, he wasn’t effective, conceding 24 runs off the four overs he bowled, without taking a wicket.
Saud Shakeel – 2/10
1 innings, 9 runs @ 9, SR: 150, 0 fifties
Shakeel played the third match of the series and came in to bat at No.5 After starting well, he was undone by the brilliance of Afghan wicketkeeper Rahmanullah Gurabaz as he was run out for nine off six balls.
Shadab Khan – 8.5/10
3 innings, 90 runs @ 30, SR: 96.77, 0 fifties
3 innings, 4 wickets @ 23.75, ER: 4.52, BBI: 3-42
Shadab was the star performer for Pakistan in the series. He was their joint third-highest run-scorer and the third-highest wicket-taker. His 48 off 35 balls in the second ODI helped Pakistan script an unbelievable heist. With the ball, his best performance came in the third ODI where he took 3-42, and like always, he was brilliant in the field throughout the series.
Mohammad Nawaz – 8.5/10
1 innings, 30 runs @ 30, SR: 120, 0 fifties
1 innings, 2 wickets @ 22.50, ER: 5, BBI: 2-45
Nawaz played just one match in the series and had a near-perfect outing. A late cameo of 30 off 25 balls while batting at No.8, followed by a nine-over spell of 2-45 where he picked the wickets of Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan would have given both him and the Pakistan team a lot of confidence heading into the Asia Cup.
Usama Mir – 2/10
2 innings, 2 runs @ 1, SR: 40, 0 fifties
2 innings, 1 wicket @ 79, ER: 6.07, BBI: 1-61
Mir started the series as the second spinner for Pakistan but had a poor two games before he was dropped for Nawaz. He could only pick one wicket across the two matches and didn’t have any impact with the bat either.
Faheem Ashraf – 5/10
1 innings, 2 runs @ 2, SR: 100, 0 fifties
1 innings, 2 wickets @ 21.50, ER: 5.37, BBI: 2-43
Ashraf played the last match of the series and did well with the ball. He shared the new ball with Shaheen Afridi and scalped the two big wickets of Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran, both inside the first ten overs of the innings to leave Afghanistan on the back foot.
Shaheen Afridi – 8.5/10
3 innings, 6 wickets @ 16.33, ER: 4.14, BBI: 2-9
Afridi was the highest wicket-taker of the series, picking six wickets across three games. He was at his consistent best, picking two wickets each in each of the three matches. He started with a two-wicket burst with the new ball in the first match and finished with a two-wicket burst in the third to clean up the tail, in what was a complete performance from the leader of Pakistan’s attack.
Haris Rauf – 8.5/10
2 innings, 5 wickets @ 13.20, ER: 4.95, BBI: 5-18
Rauf ran through the Afghan batting in the first ODI to register his first-ever ODI five-for. His fortunes reversed in the second game, however, as he went wicketless, conceding 48 runs off his seven overs as Gurbaz targetted him in his record-breaking century.
Naseem Shah – 8/10
2 innings, 2 wickets @ 28.50, ER: 4.07, BBI: 1-12
Naseem bowled well in the two matches that he played in the series, but it was his contribution with the bat in the second ODI that stole the show. Needing ten off the last over, Naseem hit two fours to seal an intense victory, replicating his heroics with the bat from last year’s Asia Cup.
Mohammad Wasim Jnr – 6/10
1 innings, 0 wickets, ER: 3.50, BBI: 0-35
Mohammad Wasim Junior only featured in the last match of the series and bowled well, despite not getting on the wickets column. He finished his quota of ten overs for just 35 runs as other bowlers around him kept chipping away at the wickets.