Afghan cricket team against Pakistan in the UAE in 2011–12

Shahid Afridi took figures of 5/36 to limit Afghanistan to 195.

Younis Khan scored an unbeaten 70 guided Pakistan to a 7 wicket victory.

Under a cloudless late afternoon sky at Sharjah, full to capacity with 14,000 spectators,[8] Afghanistan captain Nawroz Mangal won the toss and elected to bat on a wicket which favoured batting.[9] The opening pair of Karim Sadiq and Noor Ali Zadran started brightly, with Sadiq scoring the first boundary of the innings from the fourth ball with a flick off Umar Gul.[8] Zadran was dismissed midway through the fifth over, caught and bowled by Gul for 9. Wicket-keeper Mohammad Shahzad joined Sadiq at the crease and the two batted aggressively against the opening bowlers of Gul and Wahab Riaz. Sadiq recorded the first six of the match in the seventh over, striking a slower ball from Gul over the long on boundary. The following over Shahzad struck Riaz for three consecutive fours, which by the end of the eighth over took Afghanistan to 47, with a run rate close to 6 runs per over. This aggressive start by the Afghan batsman against the opening bowlers prompted Pakistani captain Misbah-ul-Haq to introduce spinner Saeed Ajmal early to the attack in the ninth over.[8] The introduction of Ajmal, who had just come off the back of taking 24 wickets in Pakistans recently concluded Test series against England, didn't change the attacking mindset of Sadiq and Shahzad. The third delivery of Ajmal's first over was reverse swept for a six by Shahzad.[8] The next over Shahid Afridi came into the attack and almost immediately dismissed Shahzad, thanks largely to a "moment of brilliance" in the field by Asad Shafiq, whose one-handed catch ended an entertaining stand of 31 for the second wicket. The introduction of Afridi to the attack lowered the run-rate considerably, with Afridi's variations of pace and spin leaving the Afghan batsman hesitant in their shot selection.[8] At 71/2 in fourteenth over, Mangal mistimed a slog off Afridi, who bowled the Afghan captain for 11. He followed this up in the sixteenth by dismissing Sadiq to reduce them to 88/4. Gulbodin Naib became his fourth victim of the innings when he misread a googly and was adjudged leg before by umpire Simon Taufel.[8] Mohammad Nabi and Samiullah Shenwari then combined to arrest the Afghan slump, through a measured but at times aggressive partnership. They added 46 runs for the sixth wicket to take the total to 147/4, however Nabi was run out for 32 from 56 balls by a combination of Khan and Mohammad Hafeez, after backing-up too far out of his crease with the score on 165.[8] Mirwais Ashraf then became Afidi's fifth wicket of the match, while Dawlat Zadran and Shenwari took the score to 193. They soon fell and Afghanistan were all out for 195 from 48.3 overs.[10] Karim Sadiq's 40 was the top score in the Afghan innings, while Afridi finished with figures with 5/36 from his ten overs. Gul and Riaz also chipped in with two wickets each, with Ajmal was the most economical bowler.

Set 196 to win under the floodlights, Pakistans innings started poorly when Hafeez was dismissed by Dawlat Zadran after edging back onto his stumps.[8] Hafeez's opening partner Imran Farhat was then joined at the crease by Shafiq, with the two adding 33 for the second wicket. Shafiq fell for quickfire 20 from 21 balls in the tenth over to Dawlat Zadran, bowled by a "pacy indipper".[8] The first ten overs, bowled entirely by Dawlat Zadran and his new ball partner Shapoor Zadran (of no relation),[8] had conceded 42 runs, with the Pakistani run-rate at 4.20 runs per over. Spin was introduced in the eleventh, with the introduction of Ashraf. During the eleven overs that followed, no further wickets fell, while Pakistans run-rate remained around four runs per over, however by this point they only required a little over three runs per over. The spin of debutant Hamza Hotak, Sadiq and Nabi, as well as the medium pace of Ashraf was used during this period of play, with the Pakistani batsman rotating the strike well and scoring the odd boundary. Farhat reached his fifty at the end of the twentieth over, though fell two overs later off the bowling of Shenwari for 52, having combined with Younis Khan to adding 57 for the third wicket, which took the score to 99/3. Khan was joined at the crease by Misbah-ul-Haq. Khan passed fifty at the end of the thirty-third over with a straight drive off Dawlat Zadran. Both batsman increased their scoring pace as they neared the target, with Misbah striking the winning runs with a reverse swept four off Nabi, to lead Pakistan home by seven wickets and with thirteen overs to spare. Khan and Misbah's unbeaten partnership was worth 99 from 93 balls, with Khan ending with 70 from 65 balls and Misbah ending with 40 runs from 55 balls.[8][10] Dawlat Zadran, with figures of 2/38, was Afghanistan's most economical bowler.

During the presentation ceremony that followed immediately after match, Afridi was named man of the match for his five wickets. Afridi reached two notable landmarks during his performance: He surpassed Anil Kumble's tally of 337 wickets to become the second highest wicket taker in ODIs (behind Muttiah Muralitharan's 534), while his man of the match award was his 28th in ODIs, equally Saeed Anwar's record.[11] Speaking after the match, Afghan captain Mangal stated that he thought Afghanistan were 40 runs short of an adequate total, while also commenting that he thought Afghanistan had performed satisfactorily, stating "This was our first-ever one-dayer against a top team and I am happy with the performance of the team".[12] He also thanked the Pakistan Cricket Board for giving them the opportunity to play Pakistan and requested the International Cricket Council to provide them with more matches against Full Members.[8] Misbah, also commenting during the presentation ceremony in which he accepted the victors trophy, stated, "I am really happy with the spirit of the Afghanistan players," expanding on that by commenting, "There were times in the match when they put us on the back foot and that was expected, so we did well to win in the end."[12]