PAK VS AFG - 22nd Match, ICC Cricket World Cup 2023

From Khost to Kandahar, scream it from atop the Hindukush mountains till the celebrations drown out into the Arabian Sea. Let it be known to the world that 11 boys from Afghanistan have achieved what most in the country didn’t even dream of a decade ago. They had their sorrows in Sharjah, and then the horrors in Hambantota against the mighty Pakistanis, but today they have become the champions of Chepauk. A night to remember till the mountains echo for a nation that has suffered so much strife on and off the field. And that’s why sports is such a great leveler in this big, beautiful world. It was fun covering this memorable encounter, hope you enjoyed it as well. Until next time, it's goodbye from Saurabh Shankar, Abhinand Raghavendran, Nikhil Jadhav, Pradeep Krishnamurthy and Praveen. See you tomorrow!

Three successive losses in a row for Pakistan! Not sure how they can recover from this, even though their semifinal hopes are still alive. A lot of things went wrong for them today. Not much intent shown against the Afghanistan spinners, two of their top-order batters failed to convert their starts, the fielding was mediocre and they were just unable to exert any pressure with their bowling. Even Babar Azam's captaincy will be questioned. But let's celebrate Afghanistan's impressive win tonight.

Hashmatullah Shahidi: This win tastes nice. The way we chased was very professional. Looking forward for the other games. The way we chased today, we'll do it again. The quality cricket that we have been playing from the last couple of years, the belief was there when we were playing the Asia Cup also. At the start of the tournament, I said that we want to make this tournament historic for our country people. First was England, today Pakistan, looking forward for the other games. We'll try our best to play positive cricket and do a lot for our country in this World Cup. The spin bowling department did very well. We gave a chance to Noor and trusted in him, he showed his talent. The way Gurbaz and Ibrahim started the innings, they gave that momentum and confidence. The game was in our hand from the beginning till the end. The last partnership that me and Rahmat played was also good.

Babar Azam: This hurts us. We had a good total. In the bowling, we aren't up to the mark because we are not taking wickets in the middle overs. In the World Cup, if you are not good in even one department, then you'll lose the match. In the field, we didn't stop boundaries and gave away runs, that cost us. Bowling - we started well, in the middle overs, we needed wickets but we couldn't take any wickets. All credit to Afghanistan the way they played in all three departments. That's why they won. We are not playing good cricket in bowling and fielding. We'll try our best in the next match. We didn't hit the lengths in the middle overs, especially our spinners. We couldn't put pressure on the batters.

Mohammad Nabi: Big moment for the whole team, the whole of Afghanistan. We’ve been waiting for 10-12 years for such a moment and to win one game in the big event against Pakistan. Last 3 months we worked very hard, this is a lovely moment today. We beat England and now Pakistan, everyone is in a good mood. We can not only defend, but also chase well now. This win is the favorite, we have played them 7-8 games against them and in the last moment we have always lost. The way Ibrahim and Gurbaz started, that gave us the momentum. We didn’t lose back to back wickets till the end. We thought the surface would be like the NZ game, but it was much easier. I think our bowlers did very well to restrict them to that kind of total. The plan was to play Noor in this game, and he bowled brilliantly, in the right areas. This win is a long time coming, we played for the first time in 2012, then Asia Cup and 2019 World Cup. Lots of close games against Pakistan. We shouldn’t have lost the first game against Bangladesh, but now we’re halfway gone and we have 4 points on the table. Now we will go hard against Sri Lanka. We loved the support we received today, hopefully we’ll get that support in Pune as well.

Ibrahim Zadran, Player of the Match: I wanted to go out there with a positive mind and positive intent, and I did it. We (Gurbaz and himself) have played a lot of cricket with each other, we have good communication while running between the wickets as we have been playing together since under-16 days. The way Gurbaz supported me (in that opening partnership) - that helped me and we got the momentum in our favour. I am feeling great for myself and my country.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz: They always beat us, this is the first time we've defeated them, thank you so much', says the opener to the crowd as Afghanistan stroll across the ground for a lap of honour

Stats round-up by Shashikant Singh

STAT: This is the first win for Afghanistan against Pakistan in eight ODIs.

Afghanistan wins in ODI World Cups
Beat Scotland by 1 wicket, Dunedin, 2015
Beat England by 69 runs, Delhi, 2023
Beat Pakistan by 8 wickets, Chennai, 2023*

Highest totals for Afghanistan in World Cups
288 vs West Indies, Leeds, 2019
286 vs Pakistan, Chennai, today*
284 vs England, Delhi, 2023
272 vs India, Delhi, 2023

Highest target chased by Afghanistan in ODIs
283 vs PAK, Chennai, today*
274 vs UAE, ICCA Dubai, 2014
269 vs SL, Hambantota, 2023
268 vs SCO, Edinburgh, 2019

Highest target chased vs Pakistan in World Cups
283 by Afghanistan, Chennai, today*
274 by India, Centurion, 2003
267 by West Indies, Birmingham, 1975
243 by South Africa, Karachi, 1996

Most overs bowled by spinners in a WC match
60.0 - AFG vs PAK, Leeds, 2019
59.0 - IND vs IRE, Bengaluru, 2011
59.0 - AFG vs PAK, Chennai, today*
58.0 - IND vs BAN, Mirpur, 2011

Spinners' bowling today
Afghanistan: 38 overs, 176 runs, 4 wickets, ER 4.6
Pakistan: 21 overs, 131 runs, 0 wickets, ER 6.2

Most runs for Afghanistan in ODI WC
404 - Rahmat Shah
365 - Hashmatullah Shahidi
360 - Najibullah Zadran
328 - Samiullah Shinwari

Pakistan while defending 275+ totals in WC
13 - Won
1 - Lost - (vs AFG)*

Chasing a tricky score, Gurbaz scored a boundary off the very first of the innings and Afghanistan never looked back. The openers stitched a century partnership with both of them notching up their respective fifties and Pakistan looked clueless. Shaheen broke the stand in his second spell and Rahmat joined Zadran to keep the scoreboard ticking. Hasan Ali bowled a superb spell - he nipped out Zadran, bowled a maiden and for the first time, Afghanistan were put under a bit of pressure as the asking rate crossed 6 RPO in the 36th over. However, Afghanistan didn't panic. Captain Shahidi took a while to get going but he was helped by some poor deliveries from the Pakistani spinners. Strangely, Babar Azam didn't attack enough with pace and the Rahmat-Shahidi played risk-free cricket to take their team home with an over to spare. Afghanistan clearly outplayed their opponents in all three departments. This is Afghanistan's first-ever win over Pakistan in ODIs and they did a lap of honour after their skipper hit the winning runs.

22:00 Local Time, 16:30 GMT, 22:00 IST: Take a bow, Afghanistan! They had won just one WC match in two editions. Now, they have outplayed England and Pakistan - two teams that were touted as favourites. This was a clinical performance. On a slow Chepauk track, they lost the toss and picked four frontline spinners. They didn't get off to a great start with the ball as Pakistan scored 56/0 in the first powerplay. Afghanistan fought back in the second powerplay with their spinners applying the brakes and picking wickets. 40s from Iftikhar and Shadab powered Pakistan to 282, which looked above par. But, what followed that was something very special - Afghanistan put on a masterclass.

Shaheen Afridi to Shahidi, FOUR, full toss and a shuffling Shahidi whips it away over square leg. Captain Shahidi removes his helmet and roars. Rahmat, meanwhile, is calm as ever - looks heavenwards. A historic win for Awesome Afghanistan!

Scores level!

Shaheen Afridi to Rahmat, 1 run, full ball, bunted towards mid-on for a single. An angry, off-target throw from Babar Azam.....

Shaheen Afridi to Shahidi, 1 run, comes down the track and wafts his bat at this wide-ish length ball. Flies off the top-edge and falls short of third man

Shaheen Afridi to Rahmat, 1 run, opens his bat-face and eases this length ball to deep point

Shaheen Afridi to Rahmat, no run, fullish ball, pushed defensively back towards the bowler

Shaheen Afridi to Rahmat, no run, full on the stumps, Rahmat defends it towards mid-wicket

Equation: 4 runs | 12 balls. Smiles already in the Afghanistan camp

Hasan Ali to Shahidi, no run, round the wicket, short of length ball, tapped to backward point

Hasan Ali to Rahmat, 1 run, short of length delivery, the line is too straight, tucked away to backward square leg