CHENNAI, India: In a crucial ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup match at Chidambaram Stadium, Pakistan’s skipper, Babar Azam, won the toss and decided to bat first against Afghanistan.
Abdullah Shafique and Imamul Haq opened the batting for Pakistan, showing promise as they pushed the score to 50.
However, Imam’s innings came to an end when he mistimed a shot, offering a straightforward catch to Naveenul Haq, courtesy of Azmatullah’s bowling, in the 10th over. At that point, Pakistan had reached 56 runs on the scoreboard, with Imamul contributing 17 runs from 22 deliveries.
Currently, Pakistan holds the fifth position on the points table after four games, with two wins and two losses. The team began the tournament with impressive victories over the Netherlands and Sri Lanka, setting a record for the highest successful chase in the tournament’s history. Nonetheless, they faced some challenging matches in subsequent fixtures.
In this crucial encounter, Pakistan made one change to the playing XI, including Shadab Khan in place of Mohammad Nawaz, who was sidelined due to illness. The outcome of this match will have a significant impact on Pakistan’s standing in the tournament.
Pakistan: Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (capt), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Usama Mir, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf.
Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), Azmatullah Omarzai, Ikram Alikhil (wk), Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Noor Ahmad.
