Pakistan reached the finals of the 2022 Asia Cup tournament with an eye-scratching win against Afghanistan in the Super 4 clash on Wednesday. Afghanistan needed a victory to remain in the race for the finals but Pakistan snatched away their hopes in the final over. The young pacer Naseem Shah smashed two back-to-back sixes in the last over to guide Pakistan to a memorable win at Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
Babar Azam won the toss and decided to bowl first and Afghanistan's opening duo of Hazratullah Zazai and Rahmanullah Gurbaz started well with a quick 36-run partnership for the first wicket. Haris Rauf gave Pakistan the opening with Gurbaz's wicket in the fourth over and Mohammad Hasnain removed Zazai in the fifth.
Ibrahim Zadran played a crucial knock but didn't get support from the other batters in the middle overs. He scored the highest 35 off 37 but it was Rashid Khan who smashed unbeaten 18 off 15 to help Afghanistan to put a 129/6. For Pakistan, Rauf took two wickets while conceding only 26 runs in his four-over spell.
Shadab Khan guided Pakistan to a memorable win
The right-arm pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi dismissed Babar Azam on the second delivery while Fakhar Zaman got run out on just five runs as Pakistan were in early trouble. Mohammad Rizwan (26 off 20) tried to build up some momentum but was removed by Rashid Khan.
Then middle-order batters Iftikhar Ahmed (30 off 33) and Shadab Khan (36 off 26) bought Pakistan back in the game by putting a crucial 42-run partnership for the fourth wicket, however, Rashid dismissed Shadab in the 17th to keep his team in the game.
Pakistan needed just 25 runs in the last three overs but Farooqi changed the dimensions by taking two big wickets of Khusdil Shah and Mohammad Nawaz in the 18th over. Fareed Ahmad also took two wickets in the next over to put Afghanistan in firm control to win the match. But youngster Naseem Shah smashed two back-to-back sixes on the first two balls of the 20th over to give Pakistan a stunning win.
With this win, Pakistan are now placed in the second position in the 2022 Asia Cup Table with four points. Afghanistan stay at bottom of the table with no points in two matches.
Here's how the Points table looks like after the Afghanistan-Pakistan game:
Asia Cup 2022 Super 4 - Points Table
| Teams | Matches | Won | Lost | Tied | NR | Points | NPR |
| Sri Lanka | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0.351 |
| Pakistan | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0.241 |
| India | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -0.125 |
| Afghanistan | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -0.452 |
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