Mujeeb Ur Rahman led a strong Afghan spin trio to bundle Pakistan out for 201 in the first one-day international in Sri Lanka’s Hambantota on Tuesday.
The 22-year-old dismissed world number one batter Babar Azam for a third-ball duck to finish with figures of 3-33, while Mohammad Nabi took 2-34 and Rashid Khan 2-42 as Pakistan were bowled out in 47.1 overs.
Only opener Imam-ul-Haq with a 94-ball 61, Shadab Khan (39) and Iftikhar Ahmed (30) offered some resistance as Pakistan’s much-vaunted batting failed on a slow Hambantota stadium pitch.
Batting first after winning the toss, Pakistan lost opener Fakhar Zaman off the fourth ball of the match for two before Rahman dismissed Azam and Mohammad Rizwan (21) in his first spell.
Haq steadied the innings with a fifth wicket stand of 50 with Ahmed and another 40 with Shadab before Nabi dismissed Haq and Ahmed in quick succession.
Haq’s 17th half century had only two boundaries.
Ace spinner Rashid Khan chipped in with the wickets of Agha Salman (seven) and Shaheen Shah Afridi for two.
Shadab, who hit three boundaries in his 50-ball knock, added an invaluable 35-run stand with Naseem Shah (18 not out) for the ninth wicket before the latter was run out.
This is the first bilateral series between Pakistan and Afghanistan, with the last two matches in Colombo on Thursday and Saturday.
