Pakistan beat Afghanistan in a highly contested game at Headingley, Leeds on Saturday. This is a third-straight victory for Pakistan which would see them frisk England and move into fourth place in the World Cup point table after a very slow leadoff in the tournament. Afghanistan failed at last moments and on edge of close out their campaign without a single point.

ICC World Cup 2019 – After Match Press Conference of Pakistan Vs Afghanistan

It looked like Afghanistan on course to snatch their first victory of this tournament. Sadly, Imad Wasim shattered their dream by scoring unbeaten 49 runs which saw Pakistan toppled Afghanistan’s moderate 227/9 runs with two balls to surplus.

Pakistan started well at first and posted 72 for 1. Then, Gulbadin Naib took two wickets quickly and Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman was started to rolling out as Pakistan becomes 156/6 as fears caught them of losing the game.

Finally, Imad Wasim showed up and scored unbeaten 49 at immense pressure and cruised them to win.

Imad Wasim’s unbeaten 49 in nervy moments sealed a three wickets victory for Pakistan

Pak captain Sarfaraz Ahmed praised the crowd, Imad Wasim’s brave efforts and overall team performances.

It was a great win for us and we’re happy with the win. Thanks to the crowd, it helped us too much to win the game. The pitch was not a better place to bat on but we showed our character. Imad really played a great game. He showed up in a very tense moment and helped us to land the victory. Hats off to him. We started in a good way but lost the path suddenly. We needed a good partnership and Imad, Babar gave it to us to ease the pressure. 

Sarfaraz also told about Shaheen Afridi and the match between England Vs India.

Shaheen is improving slowly and he’s working hard to improve on training. Our bowlers are doing good in this campaign.

On England Vs India game Sarfaraz said –

Of course, we’ll watch the match. It will be interesting as both teams have quality players. May the best team gonna win the game.

Afghan skipper Gulbadin Naib praised his team’s efforts on the press conference –

We did our best and fought till the end but luck wasn’t at our side as we missed a great opportunity to win the game. But, we should give credit to Pakistan. Imad played an astonishing game and Shadab gave him the strike well. We’re still learning a lot and hopefully, these kinds of game will help us to improve a lot. Hamid’s injury also costs us dearly. It was a turning point for us. 

He also reiterated the crowds like Pakistan captain.

The crowd was great. We did our best. Thanks to the cheers and tremendous supports towards us.

Naib concluded.

Pakistan will be in action against Bangladesh on July 5 while Afghanistan will face West Windies on July 4 on Headingley, Leeds and Lord’s, London respectively in their last group stage matches.