LAHORE, Feb 8: Fine spin bowling by Zulifqar Babar and superb batting by Naveed Yasin and Sohaib Maqsood inspired the joint team of Multan- Bahawalpur Region XI to beat Afghanistan by three wickets in a practice match at the Multan Stadium on Friday.

Left-arm orthodox Zulifqar created trouble for the visitors with fine bowling figures of four for 28 to restrict them to a low total of 156 for nine in 50 overs.

Zulfiqar’s performance was then followed by Naveed (50 not out) and Sohaib (42) who led the run-chase and helped the hosts reach the winning target of 160 for seven in 42 overs.

Naveed slammed five fours in his knock that came off 86 balls while Sohaib was more aggressive, cracking nine boundaries in his 42-run knock off 36 balls.

For Afghanistan, Hamza Hotak and Mohammad Javed finished with 3-36 and 2-27 respectively.

Earlier, Afghanistan batting was led by Moibullah Orya Khel (49 not out) who was the top scorer, cracking one six and two boundaries off 100 balls.

The second best scorer was Mohammad Shahzad (37) who belted four boundaries besides hitting two big sixes in his breezy knock.

Gulbadin Naib (21) and Izatullah Dollat Zai (13) were the only other batsmen who reached the double figures.

Summarised scores:Afghanistan: 156-9 in 50 overs (Mohammad Shahzad 37, Mohibullah Orya Khel 49 not out, Gulbadin Naib 21, Zulfiqar Babar 4-28, Imran Ullah 2-28).

Multan- Bahawalpur Region: 160-7 in 42 overs (Sohaib Maqsood 42, Naveed Yasin 50 not out, Bilal Khilji 18, Hamza Hotak 3-36, Mohammad Javed 2-27).