Twitter Reactions: Asif Ali's six-hitting heroics continue against Afghanistan as Pakistan complete hat-trick of wins in T20 World Cup

Pakistan have now almost confirmed their place in the semi-final.

By Aditya Gajanan Kukalyekar verified

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4 Min Read

Babar Azam
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Babar Azam. (Photo by AAMIR QURESHI/AFP via Getty Images)

Wow! Pakistan has become a real force in this T20 World Cup. After an easy win against India, they were pushed hard by New Zealand. But they came back to win the game in the dying moments. Once again, Afghanistan fought hard to bring the equation to 24 off the last two overs. Well, Pakistan still managed to win the game from the toughest moments and on both the occasions, Asif Ali, the most scrutinised player ahead of the mega event, stood out for them.

Earlier, Afghanistan continued to back themselves to defend the total and opted to bat. It seemed the plan was to go all out with the bat. It certainly didn’t come off as they lost quick wickets upfront. Both the openers, Mohammad Shahzad and Hazratullah Zazai, were back in the hut thanks to Imad Wasim and Shaheen Afridi. Afghanistan were struggling at 13/2 but they continued to go for runs and in the process, lost a couple more wickets.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Asghar Afghan were dismissed and they were left reeling at 39/4 inside the powerplay overs itself. Karim Janat and Najibullah Zadran then rebuilt the innings with a 25-run stand but the former couldn’t hang around for more getting out to Imad Wasim. Soon Najib also fell in a bid to up the ante to leave his team down and out at 76/6.

One would’ve expected for an early finish to the game. But Afghanistan team fights till the very end always and Mohammad Nabi, along with Gulbadin Naib, did just that. The duo first made sure to take the innings to the death overs and the latter launched an assault tearing apart Hasan Ali and Haris Rauf in their respective final overs. Afghanistan managed to smash 44 runs in last three overs to end on 147/6 in their 20 overs.

Naib and Nabi both remained unbeaten on 35 hitting nine fours and a six between them giving Afghanistan a competitive total to fight with the ball.

A thrilling chase

Pakistan were aware of the spin threat from Afghanistan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman didn’t disappoint the fans. He nipped out Mohammad Rizwan early with only 12 runs on the board. However, then came a good partnership between Fakhar Zaman and skipper Babar Azam. The duo ran well between the wickets to not let the pressure get to them and also churned out boundaries, especially off the pacers.

Nabi held back Rashid Khan until the 11th over and this is when the squeezing of runs began. The leg-spinner had got lbw decision of Babar in his favour in the first over itself only to be overturned via DRS. However, Nabi nipped out Fakhar in the very next over while Rashid cut short Mohammad Hafeez’s stay in the middle to make the game interesting.

Having said that, Pakistan had Babar batting well with the veteran Shoaib Malik joining him in the middle. They kept the required run-rate in check and also got boundaries with his crisp strokeplay. When Rashid Khan came on to bowl his final over (17th), one felt Pakistan will win the game easily. But it wasn’t to be. The wily spinner castled Babar Azam for a well made 51 to bring the equation down to 26 off the last three overs.

The onus was now on the pacers and Naveen-ul-Haq didn’t disappoint. He delivered his variations superbly to keep the batters guessing and most importantly, sent back Malik to leave Pakistan 24 to get in the final two overs. Karim Janat was given the responsibility to bowl the penultimate over who had done well until then conceding only 24 runs.

But he lost his way completely against Asif Ali who is in some form in this World Cup. It was him who smacked crucial sixes against New Zealand to win it for his team and yet again, Asif did it for Pakistan smashing four sixes in a single over. Karim dished out length deliveries and a player of Asif’s calibre was never going to miss it as Pakistan continued their march in the T20 World Cup to register a hat-trick of wins.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

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