Sarfraz Ahmed hails “World-class” Afghan spinners

Pakistan chased down a competitive target of 258 runs with three balls to spare against Afghanistan in a thriller of a match which saw its share of ups and downs. Recently, Afghanistan had defeated Bangladesh in a super four encounter and were hoping to do an encore against Pakistan. At the heart of two such performances was the spinners’ dominating display and Sarfraz didn’t shy away from praising the opposition.

"We were shaken today, the way Imam, Babar and Shoaib played towards the end was fantastic, but to chase 250 in these conditions against the Afghanistan spinners who I think are the best in the world, you have to bat really well,” Ahmed said in the post-match press conference.

After the drubbing Pakistan got against arch-rivals India, they desperately needed a win. They got one, not as convincingly as they would have liked to but a win anyway. Chasing 258, Pakistan, at one stage, were cruising when Imam-ul-Haq and Babar Azam were batting but as soon as they departed the floodgates were opened and the Afghanistan bowlers started picking wickets at regular intervals. Finally, with the help of Shoaib Malik’s 51 runs, Pakistan chased the target down. The difference in the match eventually turned out to be the innings played by Shoaib Malik. Afghanistan got a chance to get him out early in his innings but they let the chance slip away. 

Repenting for the missed opportunities, Asghar Afghan said, "If you let a senior player like Malik play his game, it's difficult. Babar and Imam played really well too. But we were poor in the field and our medium pacers let us down.”

On the other hand, the Pakistan captain added, "We get confidence from the way we won today, as you know, the team has improved a lot on its fielding over the last few years, but today we didn't show that. Regardless, the team has been motivated by this performance."