Watch! Shaheen Shah Afridi’s yorker leaves Rahmatullah Gurbaz in trouble

Pakistan got into the 2022 T20 World cup with their first warm up game against England. The current ODI world champions beat the 2009 T20 world champs with ease on Monday. The game on Wednesday between Afghanistan and Pakistan might have been a warm up game, but there was no love lost between the two teams as they treated it like a normal fixture.

The story as it happened –

Shaheen Shah Afridi was injured for a few months after suffering the injury during the tour of Sri Lanka. Afridi, made a comeback during the warm up game against the English and seemed to be bowling with his old vigor. The game on Wednesday was the last chance for the Pakistanis to warm up before the big clash on Sunday against India.

Shaheen Afridi gets Gurbaz with a toe crushing yorker –

Afghanistan opened the batting with Gurbaz and Zazai and Afridi was bowling the 1st over. The 5th ball off the first over saw, Afridi bowling a blistering yorker to Gurbaz. The ball hit the batter on the full and he was given LBW. The batter hobbled and had to be carried off the field and taken to the local hospital for treatment.

Post the fall of Gurbaz, the left arm fast bowling of Afridi sent back Zazai for 9 when he rattled his stumps. Haris Rauf then struck when he had Rasooli out for 3 caught by Mohammad Nawaz. It was the turn of Nawaz when he had Najibullah caught by Naseem Shah for 6 to leave the Afghans struggling at 48/4 in the 8th over.

Mohammad Nabi and lower order help Afghanistan reach 154 –

Skipper Mohammad Nabi and Ibrahim Zadran added 33 before Shadab Khan castled Zadran for 35 off 34 balls. Haris Rauf got the wicket of Azmatullah for a 2nd ball duck to leave AFG at 82/6.

Nabi then took over the scoring as he at his aggressive best as he added 72 runs unbeaten with Usman Ghani. The Afghan skipper was not out on 51 off 37 balls with 5 fours and a six. Ghani scored 32 not out off 20 balls with 5 fours to help Afghanistan score 154/6.

Match called off after rain stops play –

Pakistan were 19 for no loss with Azam not out on 6 and Rizwan on 0 when rain came pelting down. The downpour got heavy as the covers came on the field before the umpired decided to call off play.