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'23 October ko matches khelna bund kardo' - Fans in shock as Afghanistan tames Pakistan by eight wickets in ODI World Cup 2023

A few months back, Afghanistan won their maiden T20I series against Pakistan. In the ODI World Cup 2023, the Green Brigade lost against Afghanistan for the first time

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Mathew K
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Afghanistan

Afghanistan Cricket Team (Image Credit: Twitter)

In the 22nd game of the ongoing ODI World Cup 2023, Pakistan and Afghanistan locked horns in Chennai. Talking about the history between both teams, some white-ball games have been a thriller but the Green Brigade came out on top. Also, in the seven ODIs between both teams, the 1992 winners won all of them. Meanwhile, in this game, the former champions won the toss and elected to bat first.

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Both teams wanted to bat first, given the kind of surface MA Chidambaram, Chennai. With the bat, the Babar Azam-led side had a decent start with Imam-ul-Haq (17) and Abdullah Shafique putting together 56 runs for the first wicket. The former was caught at mid-wicket by Naveen-ul-Haq off Azmatullah Omarzai. After this wicket, skipper Azam and Shafique (58) added another 54 runs before Noor Ahmed trapped the former for lbw.

Wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan (8) followed soon after trying to play a sweep shot off Noor. Saud Shakeel (25) started well but got out to Mohammad Nabi trying to accelerate. On the other hand, Azam who has been going through a low-scoring patch, managed to get his maiden fifty of the tournament with 74 off 92 balls. In the end, with Iftikhar Ahmed and Shadab Khan scoring 40 each, they reached a competitive total of 282/7.

Afghanistan pulls out another upset in ODI World Cup 2023

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In reply, the Blue Brigade had a great start as Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz provided a great platform to pull off an upset. The amassed 130 runs in just 21.1 overs. Before getting to Shaheen Afridi, Gurbaz hit 68 off 53 balls including nine fours and a six. After this, the team didn't lose their composure and Rahmat Shah and Zadran added another 60 runs.

The latter scored 87 runs before being caught behind by Rizwan off Hasan Ali. At this stage, the likes of Hashmatullah Shahidi (77*) and Shah (48*) helped the team chase down the target with one over left and eight wickets in hand.

This is how Twitter reacted

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Afghanistan ODI World Cup 2023 ODI World Cup