PAK VS AFG - Match 36, ICC Cricket World Cup 2019

I need to lie down. Make no mistake, a new rivalry in cricket has been unearthed, and when fans have the time and the will to fight when the only outcome is a fat fine and a possible jail-term, you know you've got something special on your hands. After all, Afghanistan owe most of their cricketing knowledge to the time they've spent in the refugee camps in Pakistan, and the long history and current geography between these two countries only spices things up. It was serious fun bringing you this, and before we get into scuffles of our own here, this is Vineet Anantharaman signing off on behalf of Akshay Maanay, Nikhil Jadhav, Raju Peethala, Sagar Chawla, MS Ramakrishnan and our scorer Sulthan. Until tomorrow, with hopefully some lesser entertainment from the stands, ta ta!!

Sarfaraz Ahmed | Pakistan skipper: Thanks to almighty. Thanks to all the supporters, they have been cheering us from ball one and I think this is a great win for us. It was not an easy pitch to bat on but, credit should go to Imad for the way he batted till the end. We know it is not easy (the chase) and their bowlers used the conditions very well. We have been batting very well, especially Babar Azam played very well and I think we needed a partnership in the middle overs, but in the end we finished well. Everyone chipped in and I think it is a team effort. We all know that after four games, it won't be easy to win all the next four games, but we are taking it match by match. In the previous game, the way Babar Azam and Harris Sohail handled the pressure was really good and today the way Imad handled the pressure and in the end, Shadab and the way Wahab Riaz batted, I think his 15 runs were very important. We all know he (Shaheen Afridi) is a good bowler and he is improving day by day and I think he is working hard and he bowled really well today. All the other bowlers - Wahab, Amir, Shadab and Imad - also bowled well today and I believe all of them are in good nick. Obviously we all are watching (India v England game) but we are not thinking about it and hopefully the better team wins.

Gulbadin Naib | Afghanistan captain: We fought really well, the boys gave their 100%. We missed opportunities to win. Credit to Pakistan, they controlled their nerves. Imad played really well. Shadab did well too, rotated the strike. In this tournament, you'll face these kinds of situations. You need to work slightly harder to win matches, so we need to improve. Bad luck for us today, Hamid Hassan was injured, he's a crucial part. If he would've been there, would've been difficult for Pakistan. We missed him, that was the turning point. 30 or 40 is not a enough score by individuals. We need to score 60-70 or even a century, the batsmen need to take more responsibility. Thanks to the tremendous crowd here.

Imad Wasim | MoM: When I went, Rashid was bowling brilliantly. Couldn't pick him to be honest. Just hung in there. Decided to play fifty overs. He (Naib) was the only bowler who could've been targeted to be honest. Wicket was turning square. They've got world class spinners. Plan was to attack when fast bowler comes in. Thanks to the crowd. Feels like home here. Win next game, never know what can happen. Now we believe we can win from anywhere.

Youngest to take a 4-fer | In World Cup matches
19y 84dShaheen Afridi (v Afg, TODAY)
20y 140d John Blain (v Ban, 1999)
20y 201d James Anderson (v Net, 2003)
20y 207d James Anderson (v Pak, 2003)

Narrowest wins (balls remaining) | World Cup 2019
2 balls Pak bt Afg by 3 wkts
3 balls NZ bt SA by 4 wkts
5 balls Pak bt NZ by 6 wkts
15 balls Ind bt SA by 6 wkts

The emotions were on the edge all through, and they've clearly spilled over now. Sarfaraz walks over towards the overexcited Pakistani contingent, waves, maybe even poses for a few photos but looks like he asks them to behave. We're told there are fruit juice bottles being thrown around, some of them even reaching the pressbox. Sadly, all this would do is take the sheen out of what has been the match of the tournament. Anyway, Pakistan now have moved up to four .. and they have nearly all their batsmen to thank here. All of them got starts, yes, all of them threw it away, but Afghanistan have run them close, really, really close, only to lose from a point they clearly shouldn't have.

17:55 Local Time, 16:55 GMT, 22:25 IST: Mad scenes here in Leeds. This was meant to be Afghanistan, only Afghanistan. But Pakistan and their supporters in the crowds clearly couldn't care less. This was their trial by death, and they've come out alive. And Headingley has its moment of the '90s, with a generous number of bravely crazy supporters charging in from the crowd, breaking the security barricade and running onto the field. Some of them get into a scuffle. One Afghan player gets hit. Nabi trips at the boundary before the security - maybe still hungover from this contest - get their act right. And despite all the tackling they'll face, they have a hero - Imad Wasim. He just couldn't read the spin one bit when he came out, couldn't read a lot of it towards the end of his innings either, but he hung around, waited for the inexperience of Afghanistan to kick in and for them to choke. Oh boy, and what a choke it was. The skipper, Naib, for some reason seemed desperate to overbowl himself in the absence of the regular Hamid Hassan, and Imad feasted.

Naib to Imad Wasim, FOUR .. and Naib doesn't want to complicate things further. He chokes further under his self-imposed pressure and lets Imad have it easy with another wide full toss. And it's sliced. No, sorry, it's smashed, bisecting the cover region perfectly. And the ghosts of 1992 continue to carry on Pakistan's 2019

Naib to Imad Wasim, 2 runs, and now they miss a run-out. It's been smashed down to extra cover, who throws it back quickly to Naib - who fumbles the collection - and the misery just doesn't end there .. they sneak in a second as well. Oh the game's done, it surely is

Naib to Riaz, 1 run, down leg - wide meant to be - and Wahab messes up with his backing away as he almost misses the pull -- finally it's only off the glove behind square

Naib to Imad Wasim, 1 run, oh my my. A proper high full toss, but Imad can only slice it away and pick out deep extra cover. Oh Naib's been let out of jail here

Gulbadin Naib [9.0-0-65-0] is back into the attack

The equation - 6 runs | 6 balls. Long-off and long-on. Third man and fine leg are up. And Afghanistan are punting again, in fact Naib's putting all the money on the person he trusts the most clearly, himself.

Rashid Khan to Imad Wasim, leg byes, 1 run, googly into the legs. Tucked away to short fine, and Imad will keep his strike.

Rashid Khan to Riaz, 1 run, hmmmmm. He'll reverse sweep now, dragging it through extra cover, and Wahab knows this as well, and can't contain a smile as he jogs across

Rashid Khan to Riaz, no run, darted wider outside. Riaz wants to smoke a few into his zone, but nah, Rashid's not all that bad .. won't connect

Rashid Khan to Riaz, 2 runs, spinning in big -- with Riaz getting cramped up and awkwardly jabbing it through cover. Some slow fielding legs will help, two

Rashid Khan to Riaz, SIX, 48.2 is what 48.1 was meant to be. A fractured finger and Wahab is writing a new story for himself. He gts under this one and there's no shortage of pump in those hands as he smokes this into cow corner

Ganga: This Afghanistan team is a true reflection of how many situations and stages of a cricket match you have to master to win a game.

Rashid Khan to Riaz, no run, big slog. The hope - launch this into cow corner. The reality - not even a connection