Pakistan swept the series by defeating Afghanistan by 59 runs in the third ODI. Pakistan has reached on top position in the ODI rankings.
Chasing 269 runs in the match played in Colombo on Saturday, the Afghanistan team was bowled out for 209 runs in the 49th over. Mujibur Rahman played an aggressive innings of 64 runs off 37 balls with the help of five sixes and five fours. On behalf of Green Shirts, Shadab Khan dismissed three players, Shaheen Shah Afridi dismissed two players, Mohammad Nawaz and Faheem Ashraf also dismissed two players each.
Earlier, Babar Azam won the toss and elected to bat first. And Pakistan scored 268 runs for the loss of eight wickets in 50 overs. Muhammad Rizwan was outstanding with 67 runs and Babar Azam with 60 runs. While Agha Salman played an innings of 38 runs not out. Gulbuddin Naib and Muhammad Farid dismissed two players each from Afghanistan.
After a clean sweep in the series, Pakistan has moved to the first place in the ODI rankings.
The three-day series played between Pakistan and Afghanistan in Sri Lanka was quite interesting.
First match
In the first match, Afghanistan bowled well and dismissed Pakistan for 201 runspnly. And it seemed that Afghanistan would win this match easily. But Haris Rauf’s disastrous bowling spell dashed the hopes of the Afghan fans. Harris took five wickets, and Pakistan won by a huge margin of 142 runs.
The second match of the series was very exciting. And Naseem Shah repeated his performance from the Asia Cup and snatched the defeat from the jaws of Afghanistan.
The Afghan team, while batting well, had given Pakistan a target of 301 runs. Which it achieved on the fifth ball of the 50th over with the help of Naseem Shah’s fours.
