World Cup; Afghanistan’s 4th win, defeat Netherlands by 7 wickets

 

 

World Cup; Afghanistan’s 4th win, defeat Netherlands by 7 wickets
. Asghar Ali Mubarak.

In the World Cup, Afghanistan has performed brilliantly and defeated the Netherlands easily by 7 wickets, achieving the fourth victory in the World Cup and brightening the hopes of reaching the semi-finals. In the match played in the Indian city of Lucknow, Netherlands captain Scott Edwards won the toss and decided to bat first.

The Netherlands suffered early in the innings when Wesley Bracey was caught lbw by Mujeebur Rahman in the very first over, with this wicket Mujeeb completed his 100 catches in ODI cricket. Even after the fall of a wicket, the Netherlands team did not come under pressure and then Colin Ackerman came in to support Max O’Dowd and the duo took the score to 72 in 11 overs. Azmatullah Umarzai’s direct throw in an attempt to take a second run unnecessarily at this stage set off Max O’Dowd, who scored 42 runs.

With that, a series of run-outs began that devastated the entire middle order of the Netherlands. The score reached 92 when Colin Ackerman also lost his wicket in an attempt to score another unnecessary run. However, the biggest blow to the Netherlands was when captain Scott Edwards, who had pulled the team out of tough times in many matches so far, was run out. Three consecutive run-outs shattered the Dutch batting line-up and despite the responsible batting of Sebrand Angel Brecht from one end, the European team continued to lose wickets from the other end.

The Dutch match-winner, Bas de Ledde’s series of failures continued and he became the wicket of Mohammad Nabi after scoring just three runs. Noor Ahmed completed Saqib Zulfikar’s work and from the other end, Nabi stumped Logan van Beek with the help of Ikram Ali Khel. From the other end, Angel Brecht scored a brilliant half-century, thanks to which the Netherlands team managed to score a little better. A

After scoring 58 runs with the help of 6 fours, Yengel Brecht was run out and returned to the pavilion and the entire Netherlands team was bowled out for 179 runs in the 47th over. On behalf of Afghanistan, Nabi took three wickets and Noor Ahmed two wickets while four players were run out.

Chasing the target of 180 runs, the Afghan openers gave the team a 27-run start, but on the same score, Rahmanullah Gurbaz returned to the pavilion after scoring 10 runs. The score had just reached 55 when the Netherlands got their second win when second opener Ibrahim Zadran also failed to keep his wickets. After the fall of two wickets, captain Hashmatullah Shahidi came to support Rehmat Shah and both of them started to advance the score gradually while batting with care. Both the players put up a partnership of 74 runs for the third wicket, but after Rahmat scored 52 runs on a total of 129, Saqib Zulfiqar was caught on his own ball.

After that, Azmatullah Umarzai came to support captain Heshmat and both of them achieved the target in the 32nd over without losing any more wickets and led their team to a resounding victory by 7 wickets. Hashmatullah played an unbeaten innings of 56 runs with the help of 6 fours while Azmat scored 31 runs. This is Afghanistan’s fourth win in the World Cup, keeping alive their hopes of reaching the semi-finals. Muhammad Nabi, who took 3 wickets for 28 runs in the match, was declared the best player.

Both the teams for the match consisted of these players.

 

Afghanistan:

Hashmatullah Shahidi (captain), Rehmanullah Garbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Ali Khel, Azmatullah Umarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujibur Rehman, Noor Ahmed, Fazal Haq Farooqui.

 

Netherlands:

Scott Edwards (capt), Saqib Zulfikar, Max O’Dowd, Wesley Bracey, Colin Ackerman, Sybrind Angel Breach, Bas de Ledde, Logan van Beek, Aryan Dutt, Paul van McCren, Reloof van Merwe.