Salman, Haris sparkle as Pakistan down Afghanistan in tri-series opener

SHARJAH (Agencies): Skipper Salman Agha hit an unbeaten half-century and fast bowler Haris Rauf grabbed four wickets as Pakistan upstaged Afghanistan by 39 runs in the Twenty20 International tri-series opener in Sharjah on Friday. Right-handed Salman hit a 36-ball 53 not out with three sixes and as many boundaries which lifted Pakistan to a solid 182-7 in their 20 overs. Haris took 4-31 while fellow pacer Shaheen Afridi claimed 2-21, while spinners Mohammad Nawaz (2-23) and Sufiyan Muq­eem (2-25) dismissed Afghanistan for 143 in 19.5 overs before a noisy capacity 16,000 crowd at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Afghanistan matched Pakistan with opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz, 27-ball 38 with a six and three boundaries, adding 51 for the second wicket with Sediqullah Atal, who made 23. It was right-armer Haris who changed the game with a two-wicket 12th over sending Atal and Karim Janat back without conceding a run.

Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan smashed five sixes and a four in his whirlwind 16-ball 39 but fell to Haris to end his team’s fight. Salman, who was named man-of-the-match for his fighting knock, said staying at the wicket helped him score solidly later on. “I saw the first seven-eight overs, it was holding [for the spinners when they bowled slow and for the change-ups of pacers]. I knew that if I could get in, I could hit sixes against any bowlers, and that is what I did,” Salman said in his post-match talk.

Commenting on Pakistan’s batting against spin bowling, the skipper said that the team were ready for the challenge. “I am not as good as I used to be, but we came here ten days early, and we know there is going to be a lot of spin and we are up to that challenge,” he said. On his team bowlers’ show, he said, “[Our] bowling was outstanding. Whoever came in, they bowled hard lengths. We knew there were going to be lot of slower balls. They [Haris and Shaheen] are some of the best fast bowlers in the world. “Even [Sufiyan] Muqeem as well was impressive. The pick of the bowlers for me was [Mohammad] Nawaz. He always bowls difficult overs. It is not easy for a finger-spinner and he is doing so well – I am so happy for him. Scoring above par [today], it was a 150-160 kind of wicket, we scored 180-odd and we knew it would be challenging for them [Afghanistan].”

Earlier, Pakistan elected to bat first and were lifted by Salman’s fourth T20I half-century. He anchored the innings admirably well after opener Sahibzada Farhan smashed two sixes and a boundary in his 10-ball 21 as Pakistan ended the batting powerplay at 54-1. Salman added 53 for the fifth wicket with left-handed Mohammad Nawaz whose 11-ball 21 had two sixes and a boundary as the duo helped Pakistan get 51 runs in the last five overs. Rashid, on his rearguard action with the bat, said, “It was needed at the end. We had it in our mind…that run-rate is something that matters. As long as I can try my best to get close to the target, and luckily we got some runs there. “I feel this is a wicket of 190-200.” Pakistan in their next tri-series match face hosts United Arab Emirates. All three teams face other each other twice with the top two playing the Sept 7 final. The event is a build-up to the Asia Cup that starts on Sept 9.

SCOREBOARD

PAKISTAN INNINGS:

Sahibzada Farhan c Mujeeb b Omarzai 21

Saim Ayub c Fareed b Rashid 14

Fakhar Zaman c Ibrahim b Nabi 20

Salman Ali Agha not out 53

Hasan Nawaz c Sediqullah b Fareed 9

Mohammad Nawaz c Rasooli b Mujeeb 21

Mohammad Haris c Sediqullah b Fareed 15

Faheem Ashraf run out 14

DID NOT BAT: Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Sufiyan Muqeem

EXTRAS (B-4, LB-6, NB-1, W-4) 15

TOTAL (for seven wickets, 20 overs) 182

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-26 (Sahibzada), 2-55 (Saim), 3-63 (Fakhar), 4-83 (Hasan), 5-136 (Nawaz), 6-167 (Haris), 7-182 (Faheem)

BOWLING: Farooqi 3-0-31-0, Mujeeb 4-0-22-1 (1w), Omarzai 2-0-28-1 (1w), Nabi 3-0-18-1 (1w), Rashid 4-0-26-1, Fareed 4-0-47-2 (1w, 1nb)

AFGHANISTAN INNINGS:

Rahmanullah Gurbaz b Nawaz 38

Ibrahim Zadran b Shaheen 9

Sediqullah Atal c Shaheen b Haris 23

Darwish Rasooli c&b Sufiyan 21

Karim Janat c Hasan b Haris 0

Azmatullah Omarzai st M. Haris b Nawaz 0

Mohammad Nabi c Faheem b Sufiyan 3

Rashid Khan c Hasan b Haris 39

Mujeeb Ur Rahman b Shaheen 4

Fareed Ahmad c Saim b Haris 1

Fazalhaq Farooqi not out 1

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-3) 4

TOTAL (all out, 19.4 overs)

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-17 (Ibrahim), 2-68 (Gurbaz), 3-93 (Sediqullah), 4-93 (Karim), 5-93 (Darwish), 6-95 (Omarzai), 7-97 (Nabi), 8-141 (Rashid), 9-141 (Mujeeb)

BOWLING: Shaheen 4-0-21-2 (1w), Nawaz 4-0-23-2, Faheem 1-0-15-0 (1w), Haris 3.5-1-31-4 (1w), Saim 2-0-21-0, Salman 1-0-6-0, Sufiyan 4-0-25-2

RESULT: Pakistan won by 39 runs.

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Salman Ali Agha.