Haris Rauf blows Afghanistan away in opening one-dayer

A fiery spell of fast bowling from Haris Rauf on what was a sluggish surface shattered Afghanistan's hopes of registering their first-ever ODI win against Pakistan. The 29-year-old quick took 5 for 18 - his maiden five-wicket haul in the format to bowl Afghanistan out for 59 -- their second-lowest total in ODIs -- in a chase of 201.

In a contest between teams with two very distinct bowling strengths, Rauf's pace and hostility proved to be too much for Afghanistan to handle as they collapsed in a heap. If it had seemed that the target was a modest one at the half-way point of the game, then those feelings were dispersed rather quickly by Pakistan's pace might.

Shaheen Afridi didn't strike in his first over, as has become rather customary with him. But he made it up by taking two in his second over to dismiss Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmat Shah off successive deliveries. Captain Hashmatullah Shahidi became the third Afghan batter to bag a duck when he was dismissed by Shadab Khan to leave Afghanistan at 4/3.

Rauf came on to bowl only the eighth over of the innings and struck with his first ball as Ikram Alikhil edged behind a pacy delivery. Rauf began with two maidens and should have dismissed even Rahmanullah Gurbaz but Pakistan failed to review a caught-behind dismissal. He didn't wait long to have his man as he produced an identical delivery that shaped in from a length and forced Gurbaz to play and edge it behind.

In his fifth over, Rauf added the scalps of Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan, the latter losing his off-stump after being beaten for sheer pace. His fifth wicket, off just his 38th ball, fittingly closed out a dominant 142-run victory for Pakistan and handed Afghanistan the ignominy of being bowled out under 20 overs.

It was a contrasting second half to a game that had until then been headlined by spin. Pakistan's perceived weakness to playing slow bowling was exposed by Afghanistan's tweakers, who took eight wickets among them, to bowl their opponents out in an ODI innings for the first time.

Pakistan had the advantage of batting during the hottest part of the day after Babar Azam won the toss. But they were a wicket down in the first over when Fakhar Zaman chased a wide delivery from Fazalhaq Farooqi in the first over and edged a catch to second slip.

The procession against spin commenced thereafter with Afghan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi throwing the other new ball to Mujeeb. The mystery spinner had Babar playing down the wrong line and dismissed LBW for a duck as Pakistan slipped to 7/2 in the second over. Mohammad Rizwan led a brief counter, hitting four boundaries in his 22-ball 21 but played around a Mujeeb carrom ball that straightened after pitching. Where Babar took a review with him back to the pavilion, it was 'Umpire's Call' that sent Rizwan on his way.

Agha Salman was dropped on 1 by Mujeeb in a mostly ordinary catching display from the designated hosts, but failed to make most of his reprieve as he was trapped LBW by Rashid Khan. From 62/4, Pakistan were revived somewhat by a 50-run stand between Imam and Iftikhar Ahmed. The two batters eschewed risks and played the patience game even as Pakistan went through a 70-ball phase without hitting a boundary. Iftikhar was eventually done in by the slowness of the track as he chipped Nabi to mid-wicket for a simple catch.

Imam completed a sedate half-century soon after but after being reprieved on 52, couldn't make most of life and gave Nabi a second wicket by chipping him straight to long-on. Pakistan was propped up somewhat by a 35-run stand between Shadab and Naseem Shah for the ninth wicket before some casual running between the wickets cost the former his wicket when he could have added precious extra runs to the total. Afghanistan, who used a part-time spinner in the form of Rahmat Shah at the death, saw even that move pay off as the leggie closed out the innings with the first ball of the 48th over. A target of 202, they thought, was in the gettable realm. Except, Rauf had other ideas.

Brief scores: Pakistan 201 in 47.1 overs (Imam-ul-Haq 61, Shadab Khan 39; Mujeeb-ur-Rahman 3-33, Mohammad Nabi 2-34) beat Afghanistan 59 in 19.2 overs (Haris Rauf 5-18, Shaheen Afridi 2-9) by 142 runs