Skipper Babar Azam and opener Abdullah Shafique put up half centuries before Afghanistan’s teenage leg spinner Noor Ahmad struck twice to put the brakes on the national squad’s progress.
Contributions of 40 runs each from Iftikhar Ahmed and Shadab Khan propelled Pakistan’s total above 280, rescuing the Green Team from a minor collapse during the middle of their innings when they found themselves four down at 163 runs.
Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat against Afghanistan in the Green Shirt’s fifth game of the World Cup on Monday.
The national team, with two wins and as many defeats in the previous four games, brought in Shadab Khan replacing fellow spinner Mohammad Nawaz who was ruled out with illness.
Afghanistan, who have just one win from four matches, named left-arm spinner Noor Ahmad in place of fast bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi.
Pakistan: Abdullah Shafique, Imamul Haq, Babar Azam (capt), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Usama Mir, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf
Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), Azmatullah Omarzai, Ikram Alikhil (wk), Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveenul Haq, Noor Ahmad
Umpires: Paul Reiffel (AUS) and Rod Tucker (AUS)
TV umpire: Chris Gaffaney (NZL)
Match referee: Richie Richardson (WIS)
