Imad, Wahab Hold Nerve in a Cliffhanger to Smash into top four.

Leeds witnessed the thriller between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Pak who came into this match after beating kiwis and south africa previously.  This was pakistan's must win game to remain intact for the race of top four. Opting to bat Gulbadin naib the skipper of Afghanistan started on a positive note smashing fours in starting overs. But Shaheen afridi ripped again the top order to shaken the Afghanistan innings. He dismissed naib and shahidi of successive deliveries to leave then tattering at 27-2.  Rahmat shah played some of the postive shots on a spin friendly track. He soon became the victim of imad on a good 35 runs. Later in the middle part of the Afghanistan innings asghar afghan and najibullah zadran ensured Afghanistan reach a competitive total of 227-9 in their fifty overs. For Afghanistan Asghar afghan and najibullah zadran were the joint top scorers witj 42 each. For Pakistan Shaheen shah afridi was the star with bowl taking up 4-47 also imad and wahab took the couple of wickets each.
Chasing a competitive total of 228 on a dry flat wicket which could assist the spinners Pakistan lost fakhar zaman in the first over of mujeeb u rehman's googly to further make this target stiff to Pakistan. Imam ul haq failed again after a good start couldn't captilise on that start and falls for a spinning delivery of mohammad nabi for 36. Babar azam who was in good touch couldn't convert a start into big one and falls for well made 45 to nabi. Pakistani  middle order suffered a huge setback due to the impressive spin bowling of afghanistan. At one stage it looked Afghanistan might turn it out in their favour but minor partnership from sarfraz and haris and then imad and shadab ensured pak reaches closer to the total of 228. The over of gulbadin naib in which imad hits 18 runs turned it away for Pakistan. Later on wahab riaz who came to bat with a fractured finger hit rashid khan for a huge six to ensure Pakistan back in the hunt. Imad wasim kept the one end safe and ensured Pakistan chased this in the final over with two balls to spare. pakistan won this close fought match by 3 wickets. imad wasim finished on the unbeaten and very valuable 49 and was top scorer in the Pakistan innings. For Afghanistan mohammad nabi and mujeeb ur rehman picked up two wickets each. With this thrilling win Pakistan stormed into the top four of the table with 9 points still one game away to further strengthen their chances into top four, which solely depends on england's loss against india and their win against Bangladesh. This was the first time Pakistan stormed into the top four of the point's table.

Match summary
Afghanistan 🇦🇫  227-9 overs 50
Asghar afghan 42
Najibullah zadran 42
Shaheen afridi 4-47
Wahab 2-29
Pakistan 🇵🇰  230-7 overs 49.4
Imad wasim 49*
Babar azam 45
Nabi 2-23
mujeeb 2-34
Pakistan won by 3 wickets.