Afghanistan’s left-arm wrist spinner Noor Ahmad created a World Cup record for his side during the ICC World Cup 2023 match against Pakistan at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, India, on Monday.
Noor Ahmad took three wickets for 49 runs and became Afghanistan’s bowler with the best figures on World Cup debut, beating Shapoor Zardan’s 2-20 against Bangladesh in the 2015 World Cup.
Noor took three important wickets of Abdullah Shafique, Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam, proving his importance and how pivotal he can be when needed.
The 18-year-old was brought into the squad in place of the speedster Fazalhaq Farooqi as Afghanistan wanted to adjust to the spinning conditions of Chennai and thus, played with four spinners and Noor didn’t make Hashmatullah Shahidi regret his decision.
Batting first, Pakistan were able to post a competitive 283-run target for their Asian neighbours courtesy of valiant knocks by Babar, Abdullah, Iftikhar Ahmed and Shadab Khan.
Pakistan had lost wickets in quick successions and were 120-3 in 24.4 overs and were looking to score 200 runs at most but Babar’s resilience took the Green Shirts to a fighting total.
After Babar lost his wicket, Iftikhar took charge of Pakistan’s batting and played a rapid knock, scoring 40 off 27 deliveries with two fours and four sixes, proving his importance once again.
By the time this story was filed, Afghanistan was batting at 34-0 in 6 overs with openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (8*) and Ibrahim Zardan (26*) on the crease.
Earlier, Pakistan captain Babar Azam won the toss and opted to bat first in the Cricket World Cup match against Afghanistan in Chennai.
Pakistan have two wins and as many defeats from four games.
The two sides met each other seven times in ODIs with Pakistan emerging winners in all the matches. Pakistan and Afghanistan faced one another in the 2019 World Cup where Imad Wasim guided his side to a famous victory.
Teams:
Pakistan: Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam (capt), Mohammad Rizwan (wkt), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Usama Mir, Shahen Shah Afridi, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf
Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), Azmatullah Omarzai, Ikram Alikhil (wkt), Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Noor Ahmad
