Pakistan clinchs top ODI ranking after clean sweep against Afghanistan

Pakistan on Saturday clinched the top one-day international (ODI) ranking after a clean sweep against Afghanistan!

Pakistan defeated Afghanistan by 59 runs in the third match at Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, Sri Lanka to win the ODI series 3-0.

Prior to the Afghanistan series, Pakistan was in second place with 116 points, just two points behind Australia.

And it’s a new milestone achieved by the national team under the captaincy of Babar Azam.

Chasing a target of 269 runs in the final match of the series, Afghanistan was dismissed for 209 runs in 48.4 overs.

Leg-spinner Shadab Khan was the top wicket-taker for Pakistan with figures of 3-42 in 10 overs.

While, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, and Shaheen Afridi claimed two wickets each.

Opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz was dismissed by Faheem Ashraf for five runs.

Riaz Hassan remained the top scorer with 34 runs and he was sent to the pavilion by Shadab Khan.

After Ibrahim Zardan and captain Hashmatullah Shahidi failed to perform, Shahidullah gave a boost to the Afghan team’s chase by scoring 37 runs before he was removed by Shadab.

Mujeebur Rehman held the nerves as he smashed the fastest fifty from Afghanistan but his 67-run knock could not save a match for his team.

After winning the toss Pakistan opted to bat first.

Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan’s strong partnership helped Pakistan set a target of 269 runs for Afghanistan.

The green team suffered early losses due to the removal of opening pair Imamul Haq and Fakhar Zaman, who scored 13 and 27, respectively.

The openers were dismissed by Afghan bowler Gulbadin Naib.

Salman Ali Agha and Mohammad Nawaz also played a key role in boosting the score as they made 38 and 30, respectively.