In the third ODI, held in Colombo, Pakistan defeated Afghanistan by 59 runs. With this, Pakistan prevailed in the three-game series against Afghanistan. Ahead of the Asian Cup, this win is encouraging for Pakistan.
In the third ODI, Pakistan had scored 268 runs for 8 wickets in 50 overs after the first game. In response, the Afghan team was only able to score 209 runs in 48.4 overs. In this way, Pakistan won the third ODI with 59 runs. As a result, Afghanistan’s dream of winning over Pakistan once again failed to come true.
In pursuit of the goal of 269 runs from Pakistan, Afghanistan’s start was again poor. Opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz returned to the pavilion after scoring just five runs. After that, Ibrahim Zadran, who came in third to bat, returned to the pavilion without opening the account.
After that, opener Riyaz Hasan and captain Hashmatullah Shahidi began to play with restraint, but with a total of 60, Afghanistan suffered a third setback. Opener Riyaz Hasan was sacked after scoring 34 runs in 66 balls. Shortly thereafter, captain Shahidi scored 13 runs in 31 balls. Half of the Afghan team had returned to the pavilion for 62 runs.
After that, Mohammad Nabi returned to the pavilion after scoring just three runs. At the same time, Rashid Khan also got out after scoring 16 runs in 12 balls. It seemed like the Afghan team wouldn’t even be able to reach the 100 figure, but Mujeeb Ur Rehman mitigated the team’s loss by scoring the first half century of his ODI career.
Mujeeb ur Rehman played a stunning 64-run, 37-ball inning. Five fours and five sixes came out of his racket. Mujeeb shared a 45-run partnership with Farid Malik (17) for the 9th wicket, surpassing the 200-run mark.
Shadab Khan took the maximum three wickets for Pakistan. While Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Nawaz and Faheem Ashraf each received two wickets. Apart from that, Agha Salman had one success.
Previously, Pakistan scored 268 runs in 50 overs thanks to the half centuries of captain Babar Azam (60 runs) and Mohammad Rizwan (67 runs). Aside from those two, Agha Salman played an unbeaten 38 and Mohammad Nawaz played an important inning of 30 runs.