WATCH: Babar Azam stops Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi from tying his shoelaces

In a commendable sportsmanship gesture, Pakistan’s skipper Babar Azam stopped Afgghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi from tying his shoelaces during the Chennai match.

The light-hearted exchange took place as Babar Azam following a drinks break noticed his untied shoelaces.

Nabi — who was preparing to bowl — readily agreed and moved forward to offer his assistance. Babar, however, acknowledging Nabi’s esteemed status in the cricketing world, refused to allow the former to tie his shoelaces.

Earlier in the day,  Pakistan opted to bat first after winning the toss. The Green Shirts made a sole change to their playing XI as vice-captain Shadab Khan was back in the team in place of sick Mohammad Nawaz. Afghanistan also made a change to their playing XI as Noor Ahmad replaced Fazalhaq Farooqi.

On a spin-friendly pitch, Afghanistan fielded four spinners with 18-year-old left-armer Noor grabbing a career-best 3-49 on his World Cup debut.

Pakistan enjoyed a strong start with a 56-run stand before Azmatullah Omarzai dismissed Imam-ul-Haq for 17 in the 11th over.

For Pakistan, skipper Azam and opener Abdullah Shafique scored 74 and 58 runs, respectively.

Later on in the innings, Shadab added a rapid 73 runs with Iftikhar Ahmed for the sixth wicket as Pakistan added 61 in the last five overs, with Shadab falling off the last delivery pushing Pakistan’s score to 282/7 in 50 overs.