Asia Cup 2018: Super Four, Match 2, Pakistan vs Afghanistan – Statistical Highlights

Pakistan edged past Afghanistan in a thrilling encounter at the Abu Dhabi to chase down the 258-run target with three balls and three wickets to spare. Hashmatullah Shahidi (97*) and Asghar Afghan (67) scored the fifties to help Afghanistan score 250+ once again. A 154-run stand between Imam-ul-Haq (80) and Babar Azam (66) in the chase looked like taking the game away from Afghanistan.

However, Some tight bowling from their spinners Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Zadran spiced up the game. The senior pro, Shoaib Malik ensured he stood till the last moment in the chase where he seal a win for his team with a six and four when they needed ten from five balls. He remained unbeaten on 51 off 43 balls which included only four boundaries.

All the major stats and numbers that were recorded during the thriller between Pakistan and Afghanistan:

1 – Fakhar Zaman became the first Pakistan player to bag ducks in consecutive Asia Cup matches. He was not dismissed for zero in his first 19 ODI matches before bagging two in two.

1 – Afghanistan’s defeat in this game is their first against top nine ranked ODI countries in 2018. They defeated Windies twice and registered big wins over Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in the group stage of this Asia Cup.

14.75 – Sarfraz Ahmed’s batting average in ODI cricket since the completion of the 2017 Champions Trophy. In the 11 ODI innings he batted in this period, the Pakistan captain scored only 118 runs including a best score of 51. He was dismissed for a single digit score in seven of those 11 innings.

18y 168d – Shaheen Shah Afridi is the fourth youngest player to feature in an Asia Cup game for Pakistan after Shahid Afridi (17y 135d), Mohammad Amir (18y 63d) and Shoaib Malik (18y 125d).

67 – Asghar Afghan’s 67 in this game is his first fifty in 18 innings in the ODI format. He failed to cross 40 in his previous 17 innings coming into this game. Asghar’s last fifty-plus score in this format came in March 2017 where he scored 101 against Ireland.

97* – Hashmatullah Shahidi’s unbeaten 97-run knock is the highest score in Asia Cup for Afghanistan and also their highest ODI score against top nine teams. Their skipper Asghar Afghan made an unbeaten 90 against Bangladesh in the 2014 Asia Cup game.

185.33 – Shoaib Malik’s batting average in successful run-chases in the ODI format since 2015 which is the best for any player in this span (Min: 10 inns). Virat Kohli (132.45) is the only other to average over 100 in this period. Both Malik and Kohli remained unbeaten on 11 occasions in successful chases; the most times by any player since the start of 2015.

257/6 – Afghanistan’s total of 257/6 in this game is their 2nd highest ODI total against top nine teams. Their highest was 258/10 against Bangladesh in 2016 while chasing 264 to win.

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