After losing their previous game against Pakistan, Afghanistan defeated Namibia by 62 runs in the Group 2 fixture of the 2021 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Abu Dhabi. Winning the toss for the eighth time in a row, Afghanistan displayed an excellent performance with both bat and ball, due to which the match resulted in their favor.
Solid innings by Afghan Batters
Hazratullah Zazai and Mohammad Shahzad opened the batting for Afghanistan and managed to settle in during the initial overs. The duo stamped their authority in the Powerplay, scoring 50 runs without losing a wicket. With this start, Afghanistan proved once again why they have been the fastest scoring side in the Powerplay, scoring at 8.66 runs per over in that phase.
This start allowed the players to come in and bat freely, with Asghar Afghan and Mohammed Nabi smashing their way to take Afghanistan to 160 runs. On a sluggish pitch that offered help to spinners, this was an above-par total for Afghanistan, especially considering the lack of dew in the afternoon games.
For Afghanistan, two partnerships dictated the tone of the innings. Zazai and Shahzad put on 53 runs for the first wicket, but the more telling partnership was between Nabi and Afghan, who smashed 35 runs off just 20 balls to take Afghanistan from a decent score to a score that was out of Namibia’s reach.
From Namibia, Ruben Trumpelmann and JN Loftie-Eaton were the pick of the bowlers, with both picking up two wickets each. Trumpelmann and Loftie-Eaton also benefited from bowling the most number of dot balls, with the duo bowling 14 and 11 dot balls respectively.
Namibian batters’ failure
Craig Williams and Michael van Lingen started cautiously with the bat for Namibia but both were dismissed and sent back to the pavilion by the end of third over by the star with the bowl for Afghanistan- Naveen ul Haq.
Williams got out during the fourth ball of the first over which immensely added pressure to the batting side. However, Naveen bowled superbly for four overs and took three wickets with an economy of 6.5- thus earning him the man-of-the-match title.
Afghanistan kept chipping away with the wickets and made run-scoring a difficult task for Namibia, who eventually crawled to 98 runs in 20 overs, losing nine wickets. For Namibia, it was their veteran David Wiese, who was the only batter to score more than 20 runs, scoring 26 runs off 30 balls.
Experience played a huge role in Afghanistan dominating Namibia, as Hamid Hasan and Gulbadin Naib combined to concede just 28 runs in eight overs, picking up five wickets between them. 58.3% of the balls bowled by the duo were dots. Eight wickets by pacers in an innings is the most for Afghanistan in a T20I.
This crushing win for Afghanistan will surely help them keep their hopes alive and stay ahead of the team based on net run rate, giving them the confidence to move ahead after being placed at the second spot on the group’s points table. Naveen-ul-Haq, for his terrific new-ball spell, was adjudged the Player of the Match.