Afghanistan Times
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KABUL: Afghanistan-A beat Pakistan-A by 54 runs in the one-off limited overs match in the Pakistani capital Islamabad as Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif watched the friendly.
Initially a Twenty20 but later reduced to 15-overs-a-side, the match was played at the Shalimar Ground in Islamabad, with Afghanistan notching up 154 runs before restricting the hosts to just 100 in the allotted overs.
Afghanistan Cricket Board spokesman Farid Hotak told Pajhwok Afghan News Afghanistan-A won the toss and chose to bat.
He said Najibullah Zadran played an outstanding innings, scoring unbeaten 60 runs that included four 6s. Samiullah Shinwari made 27 runs, Najib Tarakai 18, Shahzad Mohammadi 17, Mohammad Nabi 15 and Hashmat Shaheedi 11 runs.
The Pakistanis failed to chase the target and lost nine wickets for 100 runs in the stipulated overs, handing Afghanistan-A a victory by 54 runs.
For Afghanistan, Mohammad Nabi and Gulbadin Naib clinched two wickets apiece and Farid Malak and Nasim one each. Zadran was declared the man of the match.
The Pakistan ‘A’ side included Umar Gul, Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Irfan and Sohaib Maqsood among other Test and ODI stars.
Gul conceded 30 runs off his three overs. Left-arm paceman Mohammad Irfan and spinner Raza Hasan were the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3-23-1 and 2-11-1 respectively.
The match was arranged by the governments of Pakistan and the Afghanistan with leaders of the two countries meeting their counterparts on the sidelines of the match.
Members from the federal cabinet including Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Minister for States and Frontier Regions retired Gen Abdul Qadir Baloch were also present at the match as well as Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shehryar Khan and Najam Sethi.
Earlier, Afghan President Ahmadzai and Nawaz Sharif pledged to begin a new era of economic cooperation, with Ghani saying three days of talks had ended 13 years of differences. (PAN)
