By Cricinfo Report

Farhat fifty guides Pakistan's pursuit of 196

25 overs Pakistan 119 for 3 (Younis 27*, Misbah 7*, Dawlat 2-19) need 77 runs to beat Afghanistan 195 (Sadiq 40, Nabi 37, Afridi 5-36)

Afghanistan's spirit with the bat carried into their bowling effort in Sharjah, but Imran Farhat ensured that Pakistan marched past early roadblocks to reach a position of control by the 25th over. Afghanistan's new-ball pair - the Zadrans, Dawlat and Shapoor - bowled well enough to test Pakistan with every drop of assistance they could wring out of the pitch. Dawlat used persistent lines to expose flaws in the techniques of Mohammad Hafeez and Asad Shafiq, but the dearth of runs to defend made Afghanistan's job progressively tougher.

Farhat fell soon after making a half-century, but by then Pakistan had the ideal base for their two most obdurate batsmen - Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq - to build on.

It was easy to make out that the Zadrans weren't related. Shapoor, a tall, strapping left-armer, chugged in with his long hair streaming in his wake, looking to capitalise on the nagging angle across the right-hand batsmen. Dawlat, a shorter right-arm seamer, displayed the tendency to skid through at pace, a bit like Waqar Younis. His innate tendency to nip the ball in from shorter lengths had Hafeez in all sorts of trouble. With his 12th delivery to Hafeez, Dawlat induced him to hop in the crease and edge onto the stumps.

The normally composed Shafiq was ruffled following a heated exchange of words with Noor Ali Zadran, and responded by pulling and whipping Dawlat for boundaries. Dawlat stuck to the straight lines, though, and trapped Shafiq when he played all over a quick indipper.

Farhat began scratchily, mistiming quite a few in the early overs before easing into some sort of fluency. He found the going easy once medium-pacer Mirwais Ashraf came on, welcoming him with a drive through the covers in his first over. He also tucked into Karim Sadiq's part-time offbreaks, slapping his half-tracker through the covers to signal Pakistan's recovery. He was lucky to get away with an ill-advised heave off Mirwais, that just eluded a jumping Nawroz Mangal at mid-on. Farhat cashed in by thumping debutant left-arm spinner Hamza Hotak for three fours in an over to reach his fifty.

Shamiullah Shenwari dismissed Farhat with a soft return catch in his first over, but Younis and Misbah produced three fours off the next four balls to restate Pakistan's control.

50 overs Afghanistan 195 (Sadiq 40, Nabi 37, Afridi 5-36) v Pakistan

	Karim Sadiq's free-spirited methods epitomised Afghanistan's approach to the game © AFP

Karim Sadiq and Mohammad Shahzad briefly strode the thin line separating audacity from foolhardiness, as Afghanistan started in entertaining fashion, before Shahid Afridi reined them in with yet another five-wicket haul. Until Afridi began to wield his influence, the Afghan top order paraded the pure joy that accompanies their rough-cut methods, swinging merrily against a well-rounded attack. Their approach left bowlers of the calibre of Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal clueless, before Afridi, the spinner with most ODI wickets among active players, contained them.

Years from now, irrespective of the result of the game, one image from Friday afternoon will endure. Ajmal, Man of the Series from the Test series against England, was forced into an early spell after the new-ball bowlers were battered. The portly Mohammad Shahzad was on strike. To the third ball, he calmly reversed his stance and heaved a flighted offbreak a good 20 yards into the stands behind square leg. It was just one shot, but it came against the bowler who had looped circles around England's celebrated top order through six innings of tortuous Test batting. It was a statement as telling as any - Misbah-ul-Haq smiled wryly into the distance as the ball disappeared. Afghanistan weren't bothered by reputations.

The fun began early on the flat Sharjah track, when Gul strayed into Karim 'Kabul ka Sehwag' Sadiq's pads in the first over. Sadiq thumped the flick with a violence that was a sign of things to come. He would later prance out to Wahab Riaz and butcher a length ball over mid-off. Noor Ali Zadran perished at the other end, but Sadiq didn't seem to notice - he waited in the crease and launched a Gul slower ball for his first six down the ground. Gul wisely shelved the slower ball after that.

Shahzad warmed up by flicking, carving and lofting Riaz for successive fours before producing that six against Ajmal. If there ever was a shot that gave the crowd its money's worth, this was it.

It took Pakistan a moment of athletic brilliance to end Shahzad's savagery. He opened up the off side and looked to cream Afridi's second ball over point, but Asad Shafiq leapt up and snatched it with one hand when he was at full stretch. The catch was so extraordinary, that even Afridi deigned to leave the spotlight on the fielder, as he refrained from his characteristic X-man celebrations.

Afridi's variations of spin and pace - one of his balls clocked 131 kph - gradually unravelled Afghanistan's innings. Nawroz Mangal missed a slog to lose his stumps, before Sadiq - who had carted Mohammad Hafeez for another towering six in the previous over - edged a wide Afridi delivery into Umar Akmal's gloves. The run-rate had fallen considerably by the time Afridi fizzed a googly in to catch the debutant Gulbodin Naib plumb.

Despite the damage, Mohammad Nabi teed off over long-on for the fourth six of the innings, suggesting that Afghanistan weren't going to let minor inconveniences such as wickets to come in the way of fun. He later repeated the dose against Shoaib Malik as Afghanistan continued to keep the raucous supporters entertained.

Afridi was taken off with two overs left in his quota, and the respite was palpable by the ease with which Samiullah Shenwari milked the rest of the cast. The reverse sweep seemed to be the Afghan stroke of choice: Shenwari nearly reverse-slapped Malik over the backward point boundary even as he fell over. Given how badly conventional methods deserted them in the Tests, England's batsmen might be tempted to try the stroke in the limited-overs series.

A run-out ended the partnership when it was worth 46, and Afghanistan's fight gradually fizzled thereafter as they folded under 200. But no one would have forgotten the freedom with which they plundered in the afternoon.