Pakistan have one foot in the Asia Cup final after Shahid Afridi steered them to a thrilling one-wicket victory over India with two balls to spare at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Sunday.
‘Boom-Boom’ scored 34 off 18 and hit back-to-back sixes to take Pakistan to 249-9, past India’s 245-8 and virtually into the final. Man-of-the-match Mohammad Hafeez scored 75 off 117 and took two wickets for Pakistan, and Ahmed Shehzad added 42 off 44.
Hafeez and Sohaib Maqsood (38 of 53) put on 87 for the fifth wicket after Pakistan were reduced to 113-4, but the match appeared to be slipping away from them after they fell in the 44th and 45th overs respectively, leaving Afridi and the bowlers with 43 to get in 5.2 overs.
Afridi and Umar Gul (12 off 12) put on 32 together, but Bhuvneshwar Kumar took two wickets in the 49th over and Ravichandran Ashwin clean bowled Saeed Ajmal to begin the 50th with Pakistan still needing 10 to win. Junaid Khan managed to sneak a single and Afridi cleared the ropes twice with a pair of wild slogs to send the crowd into frenzy.
Pakistan shot to 67-0 in the first ten overs thanks to openers Sharjeel Khan (25 off 30) and Shehzad before they both fell – along with captain Misbah ul Haq – in the span of six overs, reducing Pakistan to 96-3.
Umar Akmal then scored just four off 17 balls before falling to Amit Mishra thanks to Ravindra Jadeja’s spectacular running over-the-shoulder catch in the covers.
Earlier, India got fifties from opener Rohit Sharma (56 off 58), Ambati Rayudu (58 off 62) and Jadeja (52 not out off 49) to take them to 245-8.
India scored 60-2 in the first powerplay with Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane adding 36 for the third wicket. Both batsmen then fell in quick succession – both caught by Hafeez at midwicket off the bowling of debutant Mohammad Talha – leaving Rayudu and Dinesh Karthik to rebuild with India at 103-4 in the 24th over. Talha took 2-22 in seven overs before leaving the field with an apparent hamstring problem.
The pair added 52 before Karthik (23 off 46) became Hafeez’s second victim, top-edging a sweep to Ajmal at short fine leg.
From there, Rayudu and Jadeja accelerated, adding 59 in ten overs. Jadeja survived a loud appeal for lbw off Hafeez’s bowling on seven, with HawkEye showing that he was lucky to be given not out.
Hafeez should have had Jadeja a second time, but he dropped a simple caught-and-bowled chance in the 43rd over with the batsman on 12. Hafeez finished with 2-38 in nine overs, while Jadeja made Pakistan pay by racing to his ninth ODI fifty.
Ajmal (3-40) came back to finish his spell, dismissing Rayudu in the 47th over and picking up two wickets for just one run in the 49th, stifling India’s finish.
In between, India benefitted from another umpiring decision, as Gul appeared to have Ashwin caught behind in the 48th over, but the umpire remained unmoved. India added insult to injury by scoring 16 in the over thanks to two fours and a six.
Pakistan (nine points from three matches) are now favourites to earn a chance to play for the Asia Cup title against Sri Lanka (eight points from two matches), with a win over Bangladesh in their last round-robin match on Tuesday or an Afghanistan loss punching their ticket to the final. India (four points from three matches) are also still mathematically alive, but they will need to secure a bonus point victory over Afghanistan on Wednesday and hope that Sri Lanka lose both their remaining matches against the Afghans and Bangladesh.
BRIEF SCORES
India 245-8 in 50 overs (A Rayudu 58, R Sharma 56, R Jadeja 52 not out; S Ajmal 3-40, Talha 2-22, M Hafeez 2-38) v Pakistan 249-9 in 49.4 overs (M Hafeez 75, A Shehzad 42, S Maqsood 38, S Afridi 34 not out; R Ashwin 3-44, A Mishra 2-28, B Kumar 2-56).
Result: Pakistan won by 1 wicket.
Man of the match: M Hafeez.
-With New Age input
