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Babar Azam's Pakistan were stunned by Afghanistan as they chased down 283 at MA Chidambaram, Chennai on October 23 to create history. After seven losses, Afghanistan beat Pakistan for the first time in ODIs. While Afghanistan were top-notch in all departments of the game, Pakistan lacked mainly in fielding. After the eight-wicket loss to Afghanistan, Babar blamed fielding and bowling for the horror show.
“This hurts us. We had a good total. In the bowling, we weren't up to the mark as we are not taking wickets in the middle overs. If you are not good in even one department, then you'll lose the game. We didn't stop boundaries and gave away runs, that cost us,” Babar said in the post-match presentation.
Despite conceding 60 runs in the first 10 overs, Babar felt that his bowlers started off well. They leaked boundaries due to poor fielding and Pakistan bowlers were not able to put pressure on Afghan batters and get the breakthrough.
“Bowling - we started well, in the middle overs, we needed wickets but we couldn't take any. All credit to Afghanistan the way they played in all three departments. That's why they won. We are not playing good cricket in bowling and fielding. We'll try our best in the next match. We didn't hit the lengths in the middle overs, especially our spinners. We couldn't put pressure on the batters,” Babar who scored 74 from 92 balls further added.
This was Afghanistan's third win in ODI World Cups. Their first World Cup win came against Scotland in World Cup 2015. Earlier in the 2023 edition, they beat defending champions England by 69 runs followed by an eight-wicket win over Pakistan.
Afghanistan also broke India's run chase record against Pakistan in World Cups. India had chased down 274 against Pakistan in the 2003 World Cup in Centurion. Despite the loss, Pakistan remained in fifth place on the points table as they have a better net run rate (NRR) than Afghanistan. Shahidi's Afghanistan are placed sixth on the points table.
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