Asia Cup: Shahid Afridi wins crucial match against India in last over

Shahid Afridi might not inspire the same fear that he used to, but when he’s playing, it does make for entertaining viewing.

He slogged two sixes, neither clean strokes, in the last over as Pakistan beat India by one wicket to crush India’s chances of making it to the Asia Cup final.

Pakistan started the chase quite briskly, with Sharjeel Khan and Ahmed Shehzad putting on 71 runs in 11 overs. Ashwin, who bowled very well until he had to face Afridi in the last over, found the breakthrough with a carrom ball that sneaked in between bat and pad to hit the stumps.

Pakistan were then hurt by the loss of three wickets for 20 runs, including that of the in-form batsman Umar Akmal. Captain Misbah-ul-Haq was run out for the second time in the tournament after being send back by Mohammad Hafeez.

However, he redeemed himself with an 87-run partnership with Sohaib Maqsood. The duo steadied the innings and kept Pakistan in sight of the required run rate. Hafeez scored a patient 75 off 117 balls, while Maqsood added 38 off 53 deliveries.

Afridi was the villain earlier on, sending back a set Maqsood to be run out in the 45th over, resulting in two new batsmen at the crease. Hafeez was caught at deep square leg in the previous over after mistiming a carrom ball from Ashwin.

Afridi then partnered Umar Gul for 32 runs off only 23 balls to swing the match back in Pakistan’s favour. Gul hammered a length ball over midwicket off B Kumar in the 47th over. There was a late collapse that raised Indian hopes, when three wickets fell in five balls.

Earlier, Pakistan restricted India to 245 for 8, with half-centuries from Rohit Sharma (56 off 58 balls), Ambati Rayudu (58 off 62) and Ravindra Jadeja (52 off 49) pushing a stumbling India to a respectable total.

Spinners Saeed Ajmal (3/40), Mohammed Hafeez (2/38) and debutant pacer Mohammad Talha (2/22) struck at regular intervals to peg back India’s scoring rate.

Sharma got off to a good start, but, while set for a long innings, he miscued one of Talha to be caught by Hafeez. Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli had lost their wickets early. Rayudu played the anchor for India, sharing partnerships with Ajinkya Rahane (23 off 50 balls), Dinesh Karthik (23 off 46 balls) and Jadeja.

The result means that Pakistan has all but qualified for the finals and will face Sri Lanka for the Asia Cup, barring any major upsets.