Afghanistan captured the match firmly till the last over, reducing Pakistan to 118 for nine. But, Naseem had other plans as he smashed Fazlhaq Farooqui for two consecutive sixes and kept both Afghanistan and India out of the reckoning for the final berth.
With two wins in the same number of matches, both Pakistan and Sri Lanka have confirmed their place in the final of the tournament to be held on Sunday.
India and Afghanistan will face off in their final Super 4 match on Thursday, which has become irrelevant.
After suffering another failure to the batsman after he was dismissed lbw by Fazlhaq Farooqui (3/31) on the second ball of the innings, after losing early to captain Babar Azam (0), Pakistan had a tough time during their chase. had time.
To make matters worse for Pakistan, Fakhar Zaman (5) was run out on the first ball of the fourth over by a straight throw from Najibullah Zadran.
Afghanistan got the upper hand when Rashid Khan (2/25) trapped in-form Mohammad Rizwan (20) in front of the wicket with a ball that was about to hit the middle stump, leaving the batsman on his back foot. fell. After pitching just outside the off stump.
On the backfoot after losing three key batsmen, Shadab Khan (36) took the attack on the opposition and broke the chains in the 12th over with Mohammad Nabi hitting a six and a boundary.
Shadab was at his attack best as he slammed Mujeeb over the long-on boundary to turn the equation down.
Farid Ahmed (3/31) brought Afghanistan back into the match by breaking the dangerous 45-run fifth-wicket stand between Iftikhar Ahmed (30) and Shadab.
Ifitkhar pulled a slow short delivery straight into the hands of Ibrahim Zadran as the batsman failed to gain any height.
In the new man, Mohammad Nawaz made his intentions clear and another short delivery from Ahmed drives the wicketkeeper to the third man boundary.
But Shadab looked in ominous form as he swung Rashid over the boundary to ease the pressure.
However, Rashid had the last laugh as he dismissed Shadab at short-third man with a thick delivery to Ajmatullah Omerzai on the next ball.
But there was hardly any respite for Rashid as Asif Ali hit him for another six off the very next ball.
Two wickets in the 18th over bowled by Fazlhaq Farooqui turned the match in Afghanistan’s favour.
He first dismissed Nawaz and then defended Khushdil Shah as Pakistan lost the plot.
Farid Ahmed then cleaned up Haris Rauf on the first ball of the next over, as Pakistan were reduced to 110 for eight.
Farid Ahmed gave another blow to Pakistan by taking the crucial wicket of Asif Ali in the last ball of the 19th over.
With 11 needed in the final over, Naseem Shah showed his batting prowess for back-to-back sixes off Fazlhaq Farooqui to seal the match in Pakistan’s favour.
Earlier, Pakistan bowled brilliantly to restrict Afghanistan to 129 for six.
Afghanistan started on a positive note with Hazratullah Zazai (21) and wicketkeeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz (17) being sent to bat with a 36-run partnership for the first wicket.
After an opening over, Afghanistan made 16 runs in the next over with Gurbaz hitting Mohammad Hasnain for successive sixes.
Zazai equalized his teammate by finding two boundaries in the next over before Haris Rauf clean bowled Gurbaz on the fifth ball of the fourth over.
Despite the wickets falling, Zazai continued his aggressive vein, hitting Hasnain for a boundary before being destroyed in the fifth delivery by the bowler tossed him with a deceptively slow delivery.
Karim Janat (15) and Ibrahim Zadran (35 off 37) then tried to steady the ship as Afghanistan reached 72 for two in 10 overs.
Barely to score, Janat tried to force the pace of the innings but in vain as he was dismissed in the 12th over by Fakhar Zaman while trying an extraordinary slog sweep off Mohammad Nawaz.
Najibullah Zadran (10) started his innings in fine fashion before the spinner had the last laugh, hitting Shadab Khan over deep midwicket.
It got even worse for Afghanistan when Mohammad Nabi disturbed his rhythm for a first-ball duck with Naseem Shah on the next ball.
However, Ibrahim Zadran continued to play his aggressive shot and in the next over, Shadab was hit over the cover fence.
Jadran’s innings was cut short by Rauf (2/26) in the next over when the batsman slammed a delivery behind the stumps to Mohammad Rizwan.
In the last over, Rashid Khan (18 not out) made excellent use of his long handle and smashed Rauf for a six and a boundary to score 10 runs to take Afghanistan close to 130 runs.
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