Former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh, England’s Ben Stokes and West Indian Carlos Brathwaite were all praises for batter Asif Ali after he led Pakistan to victory in the closely fought match against Afghanistan in the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup.
Taking to Twitter, Singh said: “Asif Ali showed a lot of confidence by refusing the single on the last ball and finishing it in style by hitting those four big sixes in the next over.”
“Clean and powerful hitter.”
England’s pacer Stokes, who is also a power hitter, couldn’t stop himself from praising the Pakistani batter.
“Sensational Asif Ali,” wrote Brathwaite.
Asif smashed four sixes in the penultimate over to help Pakistan achieve a hard-fought five-wicket win over the Afghan side.
With Pakistan needing 24 runs off the final two overs, Asif lifted paceman Karim Janat’s first, third, fifth, and sixth balls over the boundary to help Pakistan overhaul a tricky 148-run target.
Babar Azam also took to his social media and praised the team for a combined team effort. While the skipper also lauded Asif for “the awesome finish” from him and called his performance “cherry on the top”.
Afghanistan scored a fighting 147-6 in their 20 overs with Gulbadin Naib and skipper Mohammad Nabi each scoring 35. With Asif’s help, Pakistan finished the match in the 19th over.
