Asif Ali's superb power hit against Afghanistan in the Super 12 round of the tournament on Friday took Pakistan to the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup.
The 2009 champions held neighboring Afghanistan to 147-6 in a match between the top two teams in Group II at the Dubai International Stadium.
Captain Babar Azam Subliel chased down Pakistan with 51 runs but Asif Karim Janat hit four sixes with six balls to spare in the last over to win the C-So tournament.
Pakistan are effectively in the last four after beating India and New Zealand in their first two matches against Namibia and Scotland.
“Afghanistan has some of the best spinners, they were getting a lot of help and were bowling really well,” Babar said.
"I wanted to stay until the end but unfortunately got out. So the credit goes to Asif Ali.
Babur added, "Asif has played many innings in the Pakistan Super League. I was very confident that he would get us out of any trouble."
Earlier, Pakistan pacer Shaheen Afridi repeatedly hit Hazratullah Zazai's pad after Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi decided to bat.
Pakistan blew a review trying to lbw Zazai but reduced Afghanistan's top order to 39-4 in the sixth over.
Harris Rauf took a great catch to send Zazai back in the second over and caught Asghar Afghan in his own bowling.
After joining the Afghans, Rahmanullah Gurbaj almost ran away but could not make use of the reprieve and Afghanistan lost the top half of their batting order before the half-point of their innings.
Nabi and Gulbadan Naib have shown some respect for the unbeaten 35 centuries in Afghanistan’s striking uniform.
After their first defeat in the tournament, Nabi said, "We didn't start really well, the total on the board was decent but maybe not enough."
"There are a lot of positive aspects to this match. We fought to the end and it gave us more motivation to win the game."
Pakistan lost Mohammad Rizwan in their reply but Babar and Fakhar Zaman (30) combined to shave half the target.
Babar, then 36, was accused of lbw to Rashid Khan but the Pakistan captain successfully reviewed the decision which was overturned.
Fakhar was not so lucky and became lbw to Nabi in the next over.
Rashid (2-26) showed new drama in the match by dismissing Mohammad Hafeez and Babar but the Afghans who took two catches late failed to increase the pressure.
Pakistan needed 24 runs in the last two overs and Asif secured the victory with an unbeaten 25 off just seven balls, which also earned him the Man of the Match award.
More than 1,000 unregistered Afghan supporters tried to force their way into the stadium for the match, but were stopped by local police.
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