'It looked like street cricket:' Sadiq on Pakistan's loss to Afghanistan

Pakistan’s weakness against spin was left exposed when they were downed by spirited Afghanistan in their tri-nation series match at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Tuesday night.

Chasing 170, the green shirts feel short by 18 runs, as it was the last men, Haris Rauf, who emerged as the team’s top scorer with an unbeaten 34.

With the Asia Cup around the corner, the recent performance comes as a wake-up call for the continental event to be played from September 9-28.

Afghans’ spin quartet including ace-spinners Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Ghazanfar and Noor Ahmed did a fantastic job, ably backed by left-arm pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi who removed the opening duo of Saim Ayub for a first-ball duck and then clean bowling Sahibzada Farhan with a superb in-cutter.

Fakhar Zaman (25) was also vulnerable against the spin. After having survived couple of chances, the left-hander edged Nabi to the third-man fielder.

Hasan Nawaz also failed to click, giving away a catch at short leg off a full toss from Noor Ahmed, while skipper Salman Agha looked good for his 20 before getting run out.

Mohammad Haris (1) continued to flop. The stumper has scored 38 runs in his last nine matches which will be too disturbing for the authorities.

Haris Rauf’s late blitz came at a time when Afghanistan had almost sealed the victory.

Pakistan’s questionable intent

Pakistan’s batting intent was also questionable on a tricky pitch. A target requiring a run-rate a touch above eight an over is not difficult, given they adopt a judicious approach characterised with some solid partnerships.

Modern-day cricket does not mean that a team needs to go all guns blazing in every game, irrespective of the pitch and conditions. Hence, Pakistan has to read the conditions first and then apply them accordingly.

Afghan fearlessness vs Pak timidity

It was special to see Afghans’ pair of Ibrahim Zadran (65) and Sediqullah Atal (64) batting with solid approach. They were seen rotating the strike and never let Pakistani bowling put them under pressure.

Their 113-run second wicket stand between the two catapulted Afghanistan to a competitive total of 169-5 after opting to bat first.

Afghanistan is used to UAE conditions and playing with four spinners helped them a lot against Mike Hesson’s charges.

Faheem Ashraf (4-27) bowled extremely well especially in the death overs when he conceded just seven runs in the 18th and eight runs in the 20th over which restricted Afghanistan despite having a plenty of wickets in hand.

Former Pakistan Test spinner Sadiq Mohammad has also termed Pakistan’s batting absolutely a non-sense.

“It looked like street cricket,” Sadiq told Nukta.

“I don’t know what intent means. Every time in cricket, you have to bat according to the situation and conditions. Unless you do it, you will suffer,” Sadiq said.