Najibullah (59), Hazratullah Zazai (44) and Gurbaz’s (46) brilliance in batting and Mujeeb Ur Rahman (5/20) and Rashid Khan’s (4/9) spin-mastery in bowling handed over Afghanistan its maiden victory in the ongoing T20 World Cup.
With sensational batting and superlative bowling performances, Afghans registered a massive win of 130 runs over Scotland.
Scotland had a huge task ahead in the form of a huge target of 191 runs. They got a good start as openers Munsey and Coetzer scored 27 runs in the first three overs. When everyone thought that Scotland is very much in the chase, Mujeeb unleashed his mystery deliveries and claimed three wickets in the fourth over. In the very next over, Naveen-Ul-Haq dismissed Matthew Cross. After that, the Scotland batters never recovered. They started losing a wicket every over until nine overs. By the end of nine overs, their score was 54/8. In the process, Mujeeb also registered a fifer by giving away only 20 runs in four overs. After Mujeeb’s spell, Rashid Khan took care of the rest of the Scottish batters. With his magical spell of 2.2-0-9-4, Rashid made Scotland go all out for just 60 runs in 10.2 overs.
Afghanistan also showed its prowess on the batting front. Openers Hazratullah and Mohammed Shahzad made a partnership of 54 runs for the first wicket in just 5.5 overs. After their dismissals, Gurbaz and Najibullah took the charge and had hit the Scottish bowlers all over the park. The duo made a partnership of 87 runs for the third wicket. With the help of Najibullah’s brutal innings and Nabi’s little cameo in the end, Afghanistan scored a massive total of 190/4 in 20 overs. Safyaan Sharif (2/33) claimed two wickets and remained the top bowler for Scotland.
In its next game, Scotland will take on Namibia. On the other side, Afghanistan will take on its neighbour Pakistan on October 29.