T20 World Cup, Afghanistan vs Namibia Highlights: The match was held in Abu Dhabi. (Twitter/ICC)T20 World Cup, Afghanistan vs Namibia Highlights: Afghanistan defeated minnows Namibia by 62 runs in their Super 12 Group 2 match to keep their semi-final hopes alive at the ICC T20 World Cup in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
Opting to bat, Mohammad Shahzad (45) and Hazratullah Zazai (33) added 53 for the opening wicket. Playing the last match of his international career, Asghar Afghan made a 23-ball 31, while Mohammad Nabi (32) was the other contributor for Afghanistan. In reply, Namibia were restricted to 98/9 in 20 overs. Hamid Hassan (3/9) and Naveen-ul-Haq (3/26) were among wickets.
Afghanistan: 160/5 in 20 overs (Mohammad Shahzad 45; Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton 2/21)
Namibia: 98/9 in 20 overs (David Wiese 26; Hamid Hassan 3/9, Naveen-ul-Haq 3/26)
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As soon as he pouched a skier from Picky ya France, Gulbadin Naib stood there, his back ramrod straight, and flexed his muscles like a bodybuilder. The mind went back to the 2008 documentary on Afghanistan cricket ‘Out of Ashes’ where Naib was featured as a 17-year old in love with bodybuilding. He would talk about his unemployed father, his disabled sister, and a mother suffering from hepatitis and he would break down in tears. The years rolled by and he even captained the team in the 2019 World Cup, which proved quite an unpleasant experience for him. He even alleged that a “mafia circle” was controlling the cricket and some players had deliberately underperformed in the world cup because he was the captain.
“I am going to reveal every person’s identity involved in corruption and other misconducts and betrayals against our nation cricket and its people … The same circle have access all the way to some high level gov (government) officials, who have influence over the cricket board and management. Some blatantly admitted to the board that they were not performing as they were supposed to during the world cup because of my captaincy…” he had tweeted.
Two years later, even as the country has undergone seismic changes with Taliban returning to power, Naib continues to flex his muscles for the team. It was his cameo that took Afghanistan to a competitive total against Pakistan, which they nearly defended. Now, against Namibia, he has taken 2 for 19 after smashing a 17-ball 32. Incidentally, this was the last game for Asghar Afghan.
Scholtz (6*) and Trumpelmann (12*) make it to the end as Afghanistan win by 62 runs. Janat bowls the final over as the equation stands on 67 off the final over. The tail-enders manage to take four singles and that's it! NAM: 98/9 (20 overs)
After Hamid picked up his third wicket with yet another yorker, dismissing Wiese on 26, the Afghanistan batters slow down quite a bit. Scholtz (3*) and Trumpelmann (2*) choose to wait it out. 76 off 12 balls now. NAM: 85/9 (18 overs)
Another one! Gulbadin scalps his second as he removes Ya France (3) with a caught and bowled. NAM: 77/8 (16 overs)
Namibia batters tried to dig in but their long wait is ended by Naveen! His third wicket of the evening as he dismisses Frylinck on 6, helped by a catch by the skipper Nabi. Wiese, on the other end, is batting on 24*. NAM: 73/7 (15 overs)
Hamid makes it worse for Namibia as his yorker cleans up the skipper Erasmus on 12. On comes Smit and he offers his wicket on the final ball of the over. He edges one behind to Shahzad and walks back on a duck. NAM: 56/6 (11 overs)
Erasmus (12*) and Wiese (14*) stabilise the innings somewhat with the help coming from the latter in the form of a four against Gulbadin. The pair keep the run counter ticking in Rashid's over, getting six runs off it. NAM: 55/4 (10 overs)
Rashid strikes on his first ball of the innings! He bowls Green out on 1. NAM: 36/4 (7.1 overs)
Namibia are in a tough position now! Afte Hamid concedes just two singles in his over, Gulbadin comes into the attack and bowls a superb one! A wicket-maiden of a first over as he bowls Loftie-Eaton out on 14. NAM: 29/3 (6 overs)
Another Naveen over, another wicket! Afghanistan are in the driving seat of the contest now. Van Lingen falls victim to the spinner's slower delivery as his mistimed shot is caught by Hamid. He departs on 11. NAM: 19/2 (3 overs)
Craig Williams and Michael van Lingen open the chase as Naveen-ul-Haq opens the attack with the ball in Abu Dhabi. On the third ball itself, Afghanistan strike gold. Williams (1) goes for a big one against Naveen but fails to get any sort of connection. The ball goes straight into the hands of Ghani. On comes Loftie-Eaton for Namibia. NAM: 3/1 (1 over)
Two fours from Nabi leads his team to a strong finish.! 46 runs in the last four overs! The skipper takes on Wiese in the final over and smacks two sloppy balls. Namibia have an uphill task of chasing a target of 161. AFG: 160/5 (20 overs)
Afghan's (31*) brave onslaught comes to an end! The former skipper ups the ante with two fours in Smit's over and then follows it up with a four and a six against Trumpelmann. But he hits one straight at the fielder. AFG: 148/5 (19 overs)
Three fours in the 17th over bowled by JJ Smit, 16 runs in all from those six balls. Afghanistan 130/4, with Asghar Afghan batting on 29 and Mohammad Nabi on 5.
Shahzad's entertaining knock of 45 comes to an end. Shahzad departs 5 runs short of his 50, caught at short third, trying to scoop Trumpelmann. Trumpelmann outfoxes the Afghan opener who is caught at fly slip. AFG: 96/3 in 14 ov
Loftie-Eaton gets Gurbaz . The leggie traps the Afghan batter in front of the stumps who then reviews unsuccessfully. Asghar Afghan, right handed bat, comes to the crease. At the halfway mark, AFG: 69/2
Zazai is gone after a handy knock of 33. He holes out to deep square leg off the bowling of JJ Smit. The new batter in is Rahmanullah. AFG: 55/1 after 7 ovs
A smashing start for Afghanistan in the Powerplay! Shazad and Zazai are looking great on a belter of a wicket. Hazratullah Zazai is averaging 49 against left arm pace in T20s since the last #T20WorldCup with a 158 strike rate, he’s enjoyed Namibia’s left arm heavy bowling attack in the Powerplay so far. AFG- 50/0 after 6 ovs
Namibia bounce back with some good bowling here! Smit comes into the attack and puts good pressure on the batters, conceding just three runs. Wiese then follows it up nicely by conceding two runs in his first over. AFG: 17/0 (3 overs)
Hazratullah Zazai and Mohammad Shahzad open for Afghanistan as Ruben Trumpelmann opens the attack with the ball. Zazai starts off with a bang, hitting the pacer for a four and a massive six. Brilliant start! AFG: 11/0 (1 over)
Rashid Khan: Unsurprisingly, Rashid Khan poses the biggest threat to their Namibian opposition. The fastest to 100 T20I wickets by matches played, the leg-spinner is yet to be properly countered by anyone across the world, and may chime in with some late hitting at the back end of Afghanistan’s innings.
Gerhard Erasmus: Underlined by back-to-back boundaries against Sri Lanka star Wanindu Hasaranga in the First Round among solid innings throughout the tournament, Erasmus is arguably the best player of spin in the Namibian outfit. A key through the middle overs for the Eagles, Erasmus may find himself involved early should the attack get the better of his teammates above him in the order, forced to rebuild through a mix of touch and power.
Afghanistan (Playing XI): Hazratullah Zazai, Mohammad Shahzad(w), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Najibullah Zadran, Asghar Afghan, Mohammad Nabi(c), Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Karim Janat, Hamid Hassan, Naveen-ul-Haq
Namibia (Playing XI): Craig Williams, Michael van Lingen, Zane Green(w), Gerhard Erasmus(c), David Wiese, JJ Smit, Jan Frylinck, Pikky Ya France, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Ruben Trumpelmann, Bernard Scholtz
Afghanistan have won the toss and have opted to bat. "The wicket looks really good to bat on. Feeling really good after the performance in the last game. A lot of plus points, the boys played really well. Asghar's service in the last 16 years has been great. He has promoted a lot of cricket for Afghanistan," said Mohammad Nabi.
Namibia's Craig Williams on preparation against Afghanistan’s spin attack: "We've put in extreme amounts of analysis into the opposition and we've worked on individual game plans. So I think sitting where we are now tonight, we're in a really good place. Anything could happen in T20 cricket, we know that."
Naveen-ul-Haq, pointing to the second semi-final spot as a three-way race between India, New Zealand and Afghanistan: "There are three teams that will be fighting for that spot because India has played one and lost one. And New Zealand has played one and lost one. I think the table is right open."
Afghanistan (Probable Playing XI): Hazratullah Zazai, Mohammad Shahzad, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Asghar Afghan, Karim Janat, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi (c), Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mujeeb Ur Rahman.
Namibia (Probable Playing XI): Craig Williams, Michael van Lingen, Gerhard Erasmus (c), David Wiese, JJ Smit, Zane Green, Jan Frylinck, Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Ruben Trumpelmann, Pikky Ya France, Bernard Scholtz
Hello and welcome to the live commentary of the T20 World Cup clash between Afghanistan and Namibia. Both teams have won once in the tournament so far, although Afghanistan have played one match more than Namibia. Stay tuned!