Batter Ibrahim Zadran shone as Afghanistan beat Pakistan in the ICC World Cup. Zadran clinched the Player of the Match (POTM) award for his impressive 87-run knock, and the player proceeded to dedicate his award to Afghans who had been deported from Pakistan.
"I am feeling very glad for myself and for my country. I want to dedicate this man of the match award to those who are sent back to Afghanistan from Pakistan", he said in the post-match presentation.
Apart from Zadran, Shah's 77, Gurbaz's 65 off 53, and captain Hasmatullah Shahidi's 48 off 45 propelled them to victory.
Zadran added "I wanted to go out there with a positive mind and positive intent, and I did it. We (Gurbaz and himself) have played a lot of cricket with each other, we have good communication while running between the wickets as we have been playing together since under-16 days".
Pakistan has been set on expelling Afghanis from the nation with 3,000 being expelled in a single day, as per ANI.
Human rights experts have also urged Pakistan to abandon their plan to deport 1.4 million Afghan nationals back to their country by November 1.
Coming back to the ICC campaign, Pakistan has now lost three of their five games, with captain Babar Azam hard-pressed to find any positive takeaway from yesterday's fixture.
Afghanistan, on the other hand, beat Pakistan for the first time in ODIs but have not fared any better in their World Cup campaign either, registering two wins in five games played.
Published 24 October 2023, 08:24 IST