Afghanistan overcame late nerves in the closing overs to beat Pakistan by seven wickets in the second Twenty20 international yesterday and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-game series.
Needing 30 off the last three overs, and 22 from the last two, Najibullah Zadran and Mohamed Nabi hit a six each off pace bowler Naseem Shah in the penultimate over to reduce the target to five runs. Zadran then hit the winning boundary off Zaman Khan’s last over to chase down the 131-run target with one ball to spare.
Pakistan’s 130-6 in 20 overs was built around a sedate 57-ball 64 not out by all-rounder Imad Wasim – his maiden T20I half century.
This was Afghanistan’s first bilateral T20I series against any of the top six teams – India, England, Pakistan, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.
They have previously won a T20I series each against the West Indies and Bangladesh and five in five against Zimbabwe.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz (44 off 49 balls) and Ibrahim Zadran (38 off 40 balls) set the platform during their 56-run second wicket stand. However, their slow batting left Afghanistan needing to score 46 off the last 30 balls. Najibullah (23) and Nabi (14) remained unbeaten to seal the victory.

BRIEF SCORES
Pakistan 130-6 in 20 overs (Imad Wasim 64 not out, Shadab Khan 32; Fazalhaq Farooqi 2-19) v Afghanistan 133-3 in 19.5 overs (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 44, Ibrahim Zadran 38)
Result: Afghanistan won by seven wickets
Series: Afghanistan lead the 3-match series 2-0