Thanks to Ibrahim Zadran’s 87, Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s 65 and Rahmat Shah’s 77, Afghanistan reached their target of 283 with eight wickets and six balls to spare. In the standings, Afghanistan is up to sixth, leaving holders England at the bottom.

In Chennai, Pakistan posted 282-7 thanks to captain Babar Azam’s 74.

Noor Ahmad, a teenager from Afghanistan, took 3-49.

It is Afghanistan’s first win over Pakistan in ODIs at the eighth attempt, with their total of 286-2 seeing them eclipse their previous record successful chase of 276-8 when set 274 to beat United Arab Emirates in 2014.

This is Afghanistan’s third World Cup victory after beating Scotland in 2015 and England earlier in the tournament.

As Hashmatullah Shahidi hit the winning runs, Afghanistan fans went wild, saluting the players, some draped in Afghan flags, with laps of honour.

The match brought back memories of another thriller between the two sides at Headingley in the 2019 World Cup, but it was Afghanistan who beat their neighbor in this format this time.

The run chase also proved Afghanistan’s victory over England in Delhi was no fluke.