After their historic win against Pakistan in the 2023 World Cup, joyous Afghanistan players celebrated by dancing to the Bollywood song “Lungi Dance.” This victory marked their first-ever win against Pakistan in One Day International (ODI) cricket.
Pakistan chose to bat after winning the toss, finishing with a total of 282/7 in their allotted 50 overs. Captain Babar Azam scored 74 runs from 92 balls, while opener Abdullah Shafique made 58 runs from 75 deliveries. Iftikhar Ahmed played aggressively towards the end, scoring 40 runs from 27 balls to boost the team’s score.
To reach their target of 283, Afghanistan displayed a precise and efficient batting performance, successfully achieving victory in 49 overs with eight wickets remaining. The opening duo of Ibrahim Zadran (scoring 87 off 113 balls) and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (contributing 65 off 53 balls) formed a partnership of 130 runs in 21.1 overs.
Following the departures of the opening pair, Rahmat Shah (scoring an unbeaten 77 off 84 balls) and Hashmatullah Shahidi (contributing an unbeaten 48 off 45 balls) formed an uninterrupted partnership, amassing 96 runs for the third wicket.
Since I can't post my video of dancing, here is a fun one from our #Atalan. But rest assured, I danced with joy and will continue dancing for days to come, celebrating this sweet victory. Dance your hearts out, our heroes. You deserve all the happiness. Mashallah #AFGvPAK pic.twitter.com/xaXM5x7MYf
— Wazhma Ayoubi 🇦🇫 (@WazhmaAyoubi) October 23, 2023
After Afghanistan’s impressive victory against Pakistan, various images and videos gained widespread attention. In one particularly shared video on social media, Afghanistan’s cricket team was seen joyfully dancing to the “Lungi Dance” song from Shah Rukh Khan’s Bollywood movie “Chennai Express.”
“I told my team I wanted to achieve something special in the World Cup for our country”- Afghanistan Skipper
After Afghanistan’s victory against Pakistan in the 2023 World Cup match, Captain Shahidi expressed his belief in the team and revealed that he had encouraged the players to make history in the tournament.
“The way we chased today, was very professional. We have been quality cricket from a couple of years. We will try our best to play positive cricket, and do a lot for our country. Today, bowling was very good, especially spin bowling. We gave a chance to Noor, and he showed… The game was in our hands from the beginning till the end,” Shahidi said during the post-match presentation ceremony.
“We always had belief and at the start of the tournament I told my team I wanted to make it a historic one for our country and our people. We did that against England and now today against Pakistan. So We are looking forward to playing positive cricket in our next games,” the captain added.
Afghanistan’s upcoming game in the 2023 World Cup is scheduled against Sri Lanka in Pune on October 30.
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