Batsmen, Spinners spins Afghanistan to a Massive Win

Najeeb (59) scored an exciting half century, Mujeeb and Rashid picked 9/29 in 6.2 overs to spin Afghanistan make a massive entry into the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021.

Earlier in the evening, Afghan skipper Mohammad Nabi won the toss and elected to bat first, the openers Mohammad Shahzad & Hazratullah Zazai provided a blistering start to Afghanistan as both made 54 runs in the first 6 overs. Shahzad, in an attempt to deposit one into the stands, holed out to long on, off Safyaan Sharif, but Hazratullah along with the wicket keeper batsman Rahmanullah Gurbaz kept smashing the bowlers all around the ground. 

Hazratullah was sent back to the dugout by Mark Watt for 44 off (30 balls) after smashing 3 boundaries and as many big sixes. Najeebullah at 4, joined Gurbaz in the middle and straightaway started scoring boundaries. Both players batted really well and shared 87 runs between them in 8.4 overs before Rahmanullah Gurbaz skied one straight to the mid-on for 46 off (37). 

Najeebullah Zadran scored a commanding half century as he lost his wicket off the last ball of the first inning. He smashed 5 boundaries and 3 massive sixes in his way to 59 off 34 deliveries. Skipper Mohammad Nabi scored a quickfire 11 off just 4 balls to help Afghanistan post 190 runs on the board off the 20 overs. For Scotland, Safyaan Sharif picked 2/33 while Mark Watt and Josh Davey took 1 wicket each. 

In response, George Munsey and skipper Kyle Coetzer got off to flier as they made 27 runs off the first 3 overs, before Mujeeb UR Rehman took three wickets in one over, as he went through the Coetzer’s defenses before trapping Calum Macleod and Richie Berrington inside 5 deliveries. Naveen UL Haq, the right arm medium pacer joined the party by removing Matt Cross for not as the later nicked a wide delivery behind to Mohammad Shahzad. 

Two overs later Mujeeb crashed George Munsey’s stumps by a quick delivery before Rashid Khan made a bang entry with trapping Michael leask in front for Zero. Mujeeb Continued his magic way to remove Mark Watt with another quick delivery in the very next over to complete his Fifer for conceding just 20 runs. Rashid Khan, in the next over, removed Chris greaves as the later went for a sweep but missed the ball completely as he was trapped LBW for 12. Two overs later, in Rashid’s third over, he removed the last two batsmen successively to bundle out Scotland for 60 runs and hand Afghanistan by a massive margin of 130 runs. 

With his outstanding bowling figures of 5/20, Mujeeb UR Rehman was adjudged as the player of the match. It’s worth to mention that Afghanistan will face their arch-rivals Pakistan on October 29 in Dubai Sports City.