Veteran Shoaib Malik struck consecutive boundaries in the final over to lead Pakistan to a three-wicket victory in a nerve-wrenching contest against Afghanistan in 2018 Asia Cup on Friday.
Chasing 258 in their opening Super Four contest, Pakistan was in complete control of the match despite losing opener Fakhar Zaman for a duck in the first over. The record 154-run partnership between Imam-ul-Haq (80) and Babar Azam (66) set them on their way to a comfortable victory, but a flurry of wickets gave Afghanistan a sniff before Malik held on to his experience to sail his team home.
From being comfortably placed at 154/1, Pakistan were soon reduced to 226/6 at the end of the 46.3 overs with 32 runs still to get from only 21 balls. Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman had titled the chase in favour of Afghanistan after the fast bowlers had failed to deliver the goods.
Also Read: Asia Cup 2018: Shoaib Malik the hero as Pakistan beat Afghanistan in last over thriller
But Malik showed brilliant game presence taking the match deep before unleashing the finisher in him, with two boundaries in back-to-back deliveries to notch up the win. Pakistan needed 18 runs from the final two overs and with Rashid giving away just eight runs with a wicket, the equation came off to 10 runs from the final over.
Malik hit the first ball and declined a single, before smashing the next delivery for a six. He then followed it up with another boundary and clinched his fists in the air. The 36-year-old brilliance to hold his nerves in crunch moments set the twitter on fire, with many praising the veteran batsman for his wonderful knock.
The riveting contest between both the sides was also the first time a match went down to death in the 2018 Asia Cup after few lop-sided contests in the earlier matches. It was refreshing to many and netizens went frenzy on Twitter.