Pakistan captain Shaheen Shah Afridi was forced to leave out Shadab Khan from the playing XI in the ODI Tri-series final against Sri Lanka on Saturday after the all-rounder fell ill on the match day. The veteran all-rounder has played a huge role in all of Pakistan three wins in the series, which also had England as the third team, who bowed out of the final race after just a single victory from their four matches.
Shadab has been among the wickets in the first two games against England and Sri Lanka in the round-robin stage. But the 28-year-old's highlight of the series came against England in their third encounter with a match-winning 113 not out to pull Pakistan out from the jaws of defeat.
Batting first, England rode on a hundred from Ben Duckett (105 off 111b) to put a below-par 241 all out after 46.4 overs after Shaheen Afridi's 4-46. In reply, Pakistan's top-order completely failed in front of Jamie Overton (3/43) and Liam Dawson (2/19) as the hosts slipped from 74/3 to 154/9.
With no hopes left, Shadab and no.11 batter Haris Rauf staged a 89-run stand for the last wicket - successful run chase in ODI history - to stage a brilliant win. Shadab would been dismissed on 97, but a dramatic successful DRS review added more spice to it. It was Shadab's maiden ODI hundred and a career-best score in ODI internationals.
The omission of Shadab came just before the game as the all-rounder fell ill. “Shadab is not feeling well, so Faheem is in,” Shaheen Afridi revealed during after winning the toss and opting to bowl against Sri Lanka . “We're going for bowling first,” Shaheen Afridi said at the toss.
Meanwhile, visuals on social media caught Shadab sitting alone in the Gaddafi Stadium pavilion, watching his teammates fight it out in the middle for the trophy. Pakistan start as favourites in the final. The host's only loss in the Tri-series came against Sri Lanka, when Pakistan batted first.
Sri Lanka: Avishka Fernando, Kamindu Mendis, Kusal Mendis(w/c), Pavan Rathnayake, Sahan Arachchige, Janith Liyanage, Dasun Shanaka, Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana, Asitha Fernando, Dilshan Madushanka
Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Maaz Sadaqat , Babar Azam, Saad Baig(w), Salman Agha, Hasan Nawaz, Arafat Minhas, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi(c), Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf
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