Pakistan won edge of seat thriller match against Afghanistan by 1 wicket with just 4 balls to spare. After inviting Afghanistan to bat first, Pakistan restricted them to a total of 129/6. Afghanistan salvaged some pride by posting a formidable total on board with help of handy score from Ibrahim Zadran (35) and late blitz from Rashid Khan in final over of the innings. Pakistan bowlers like Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf in tandem ensured Afghanistan never scored runs easily and made life tougher for their batters.
The game was expected to be a one-sided contest after first innings, but Afghanistan bowlers put on a spirited fighting performance to make life tougher for Pakistan team and ultimately Afghans ensured that Pakistani's struggled to score every run on field and never let them win this game easily at any stage. Pakistan from being 85/3 in 15 overs ended up collapsing to a total of 118/9 in 19 overs. However, when it looked like Afghans have sealed the match, Naseem Shah smashed two consecutive sixes off the 20th over bowled by Fazalhaq Farooqi and won it for Pakistan.
Numbers and Stats from PAK vs AFG game:
2 - Pakistan have won a T20I match by 1 wicket for 2nd time overall. Also for 2nd time they won a Asia Cup match by 1 wicket.
Instances of Pakistan men's team winning a T20I game by 1 wicket:
vs SL in Colombo(RPS), 2015
vs AFG in Sharjah, 2022
Instances of Pakistan men's team winning Asia Cup match by 1 wicket:
vs IND in Mirpur, 2014 - ODI match
vs AFG in Sharjah, 2022
4 - Babar Azam got dismissed on a duck for 4th time in T20Is overall.
Instances of Babar Azam recording duck in T20Is:
vs Bangladesh in Lahore, 2020
vs South Africa in Lahore, 2021
vs West Indies in Karachi, 2021
vs Afghanistan in Sharjah, 2022
5 - For 5th time, Pakistan have qualified for finals of Asia Cup tournament. Pakistan have qualified for Asia Cup finals in 1986, 2000, 2012, 2014 & now in 2022. SL and PAK will be playing against each other in Asia Cup finals for 4th time.
Results of PAK vs SL Asia Cup finals:
1986 - SL win by 5 wickets
2000 - PAK win by 39 runs
2014 - SL win by 5 wickets
6 - Rahmanullah Gurbaz became 6th batsman to smash fifty sixes for Afghanistan in T20Is.
Most Sixes for Afghanistan in men's T20I:
Mohammad Nabi - 89
Najibullah Zadran - 87
Mohammad Shahzad - 75
Asghar Afghan - 69
Hazratullah Zazai - 56
Rahmanullah Gurbaz - 50
7 - Pakistan have defeated Afghanistan in all 7 international meetings they played against each other overall. Last 4 matches between Afghanistan and Pakistan have all been close encounters and Pakistan have come out on top in all those occasions during Asia Cup 2018, World Cup 2019, T20 World Cup 2021 & Asia Cup 2022.
8 - Afghanistan skipper Mohammad Nabi became 8th Asian player to play 100 matches in men's T20I.
Players to play 100 (or) more matches in men's T20I:
India : Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli
Pakistan : Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez
Bangladesh : Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan
Afghanistan : Mohammad Nabi
12 - Both Babar Azam and Mohammad Nabi were dismissed for a duck in this match. This is for 12th time both teams captain have recorded a duck in same T20I game overall.
Instances of both team captains recording a duck in same T20I match (among full-team members):
Michael Vaughan and Ricky Ponting in ENG vs AUS, Southampton (2005)
Brendon McCullum and Lasith Malinga in SL vs NZ, Chattogram (2014 T20 WC)
Elton Chigumbura and Mashrafe Mortaza in BAN vs ZIM, Mirpur (2015)
Sarfaraz Ahmed and Aaron Finch in PAK vs AUS, Abu Dhabi (2018)
Babar Azam and Mohammad Nabi in PAK vs AFG, Sharjah (2022)
13 - Naseem Shah and Mohammad Hasnain had an unbeaten 13-run partnership for 10th wicket to chase down the total successfully.
Highest 10th wicket partnership in men's T20I during a successful run-chase:
Ashwin Vinod-Ali Nayyer : 21* vs France in Vantaa, 2022
Naseem Shah-Mohammad Hasnain : 13* vs Afghanistan in Sharjah, 2022
Imad Wasim-Mohammad Irfan : 7* vs Sri Lanka in Colombo (RPS), 2015
29 - Babar Azam has joint-most wins (29) with Sarfaraz Ahmed as captain of Pakistan in T20Is.
Most wins as captain of PAK in men's T20I:
Sarfaraz Ahmed : 29 (37 matches)
Babar Azam : 29 (45 matches) - 5 NR
Shahid Afridi : 19 (44 matches)
NR stands for No Result
50 - Naseem Shah has picked 50 wickets in T20 cricket overall.