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Cricket

'Shandaar finish from Naseem Shah' - Fans react as Afghanistan lose to Pakistan in thriller at Hambandota to take 2-0 lead in ODI series

Pakistan came up trumps against Afghanistan in thriller in Sri Lanka which took place at Hambandota in second ODI.

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Naseem Shah

Naseem Shah (Source: Twitter)

Afghanistan and Pakistan locked horns against each other at Hambantota in Sri Lanka. This was the second ODI of the three-match series. Pakistan were leading the series 1-0. Afghanistan won the toss and chose to bat. The Afghan openers got their side off to a great start. Rahamanullah Gurbaz was the star of the show for Afghanistan. He smashed a run-a-ball 151 with 14 fours and three sixes.

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He got great support from Ibrahim Zadran who hit 80 off 101 balls with six fours and two sixes. The two put on a 227-run stand before Zadran departed. Gurbaz showed what he can do on the big stage which will put Afghanistan in good stead ahead of the Asia Cup which will be played in the Island nation.

Mohammed Nabi came in at number three and hit 29 off 29 balls with three fours. Hashmatullah Shahidi the skipper hit 15 off 11 balls with two fours at the end. Pakistan kept the runs down as they picked up wickets at the end and Afghanistan finished on 300-5 in their 50 overs. Shaheen Shah Afridi picked up 2-58 in his spell of 10 overs.

Imam-ul-Haq hit 91 off 105 balls for Pakistan in the run chase

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In the secoInd innings, Pakistan got off to a steady start as Fakhar Zaman made 30 off 34 balls with five fours, and Imam-ul-Haq ground it out hard and cracked a patient 91 off 105 with four fours. The runs continued to flow for Pakistan as Babar Azam made 53 off 66 balls with six fours. When Babar fell with the score at 170-2 there was a middle-order collapse.

Mohammad Rizwan, Agha Salman, Usama Mir, Imam and Iftikhar Ahmed fell cheaply as Nabi and Abdul Rahman were amongst the wickets. The game was slightly titled towards Afganistan's favour at 258-7 but Shadab Khan cracked a well-timed 48 off 35 balls with three fours and one six. In the end, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf finished the job for Pakistan.

Shah hit an unbeaten 10 off 5 balls with two fours. In another notable incident in the match, Shadab was run out by Fazalhaq Farooqi at the non-striker's end. The Men in Green have now taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the ODI series with one game to go.

Let us take a look at the reactions on Twitter:

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