• By Ankit Bisht
  • Tue, 24 Oct 2023 12:05 PM (IST)
  • Source:JND

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam's heartwarming gesture won hearts after suffering an infamous eight-wicket loss against Afghanistan in the ICC World Cup 2023 at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Monday.

After the match, Babar gifted his bat to Afghanistan opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who contributed 65 off 53 balls in Afghanistan's first-ever ODI win over Pakistan.

International Cricket Council's (ICC) official X (formerly Twitter) account shared the picture after the match with the caption, "A gift from Babar Azam. The spirit of cricket alive and well."

In a tricky chase of 283, openers Ibrahim Zadran and Gurbaz scripted a 130-run partnership to keep things under control for their side. Shaheen Afridi sent Gurbaz back to the pavilion in the 22nd over as Rahmat Shah joined Zadran in the middle. The duo added a 60-run stand for the second wicket to take Afghanistan a step closer to the target. Hasan Ali picked the wicket of Zadran (87), who missed out on his much-deserved century.

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Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi and Shah remained unbeaten on 48* and 77* respectively to guide their side to monumental eight-wicket win. It was Afghanistan's second win in this edition of the tournament and third overall in ODI World Cup.

Afghanistan stunned defending champions England by 69 runs in Delhi earlier in the marquee tournament.

After the match, Afghanistan veteran all-rounder Mohammad Nabi expressed the importance of triumph against Pakistan after a long wait of more than 11 years.

"Big moment for the whole team, the whole of Afghanistan. We’ve been waiting for 10-12 years for such a moment and to win one game in the big event against Pakistan. Last 3 months we worked very hard, this is a lovely moment today. We beat England and now Pakistan, everyone is in a good mood. We can not only defend, but also chase well now. This win is the favorite, we have played them 7-8 games against them and in the last moment we have always lost," he said.

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Nabi went on to credit Gurbaz and Zadran for their match-setting partnership and also heaped praises on the bowlers.

"The way Ibrahim and Gurbaz started, that gave us the momentum. We didn’t lose back to back wickets till the end. We thought the surface would be like the NZ game, but it was much easier. I think our bowlers did very well to restrict them to that kind of total. The plan was to play Noor in this game, and he bowled brilliantly, in the right areas. This win is a long time coming, we played for the first time in 2012, then Asia Cup and 2019 World Cup," Nabi concluded.

Afghanistan have four points in five matches and sit at sixth place in the points table. They will next take on Sri Lanka in Pune on October 30.