Asia Cup 2022: Pakistan win humdinger to seal final berth, India & Afghanistan knocked out

Pakistan snatch victory from jaws of defeat and how!

A nerve-racking game came to its conclusion with Pakistan’s Number 10 Naseem Shah smashing 2 back-to-back sixes in the last over to eliminate Afghanistan and India from the ongoing Asia Cup 2022 in Sharjah.

Going into the final over, Afghanistan were in firm control of the game, but Shah, Pakistan’s ace bowler who walked out in the 19th over, won the match in a flash. The Afghan bowlers, in fact, had delivered a hammer blow to the Men in Green earlier, removing 5 wickets in overs 16-19.

And the Blue Tigers were favourites when Fazalhaq Farooqi steamed in for the final over. But 22-year-old Naseem Shah devoured the left-armer's full tosses to beat Afghanistan by 1 wicket in the tense Super 4 clash. With a 26-ball 36, Shadab Khan had scored the highest for Babar Azam’s men.

Earlier, Pakistan who had won the toss and decided to bowl first came down heavily on the Mohd Nabi-led side. Pakistan must have thought it would be an easy run-chase, but it wasn't to be. While Haris Rauf was the pick of the bowlers, Ibrahim Zadran had top-scored for Afghanistan with 35.

Even as Afghanistan's 129 never looked enough, they made a good fist of it with their bowling, only for Naseem Shah to spoil it right when they thought they had the game in the bag. And the Pakistani celebrations that followed proved what the victory meant to them. Pakistan will now face Sri Lanka in the final of the Asia Cup on September 11.

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