Twitter Reactions: Clinical Afghanistan crush Namibia to light up Asghar swansong

Chasing 161, Namibia were restricted to 98/9 courtesy of a collective effort by Afghanistan bowlers.

By Pratyay Tiwari

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Afghanistan cricket team
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Afghanistan cricket team. (Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images)

After the near-miss against Pakistan, Afghanistan brought their campaign back on track with a convincing victory over Namibia in Abu Dhabi to set up Asghar Afghan’s swansong. A combination of reckless shots and some tight bowling led to Namibia’s downfall after their bowlers kept Afghanistan, who opted to bat, to 160/5. Naveen ul Haq and Hamid Hassan picked six wickets amongst them, with Namibia never being in the hunt to chase target.

Afghanistan’s fluent start

Hazratullah Zazai and Mohammad Shahzad once again provided their team a flying start, adding 53 amongst themselves for the opening wicket. So menacing against Scotland, Rubel Trumpelmann could not emulate his performance from the day, with Zazai taking the attack to him in the very first over with a six down the ground.

A couple of quiet overs later, Zazai once again targeted Trumplemann, picking a couple of boundaries, which inspired his partner Shahzad too. Shahzad took a brief while before taking off but was up and running against David Wiese, who he struck for a four and six off successive deliveries to bring up his fifty parentship inside the powerplay.

Namibia pull it back 

Namibia took things under control in the middle-overs after Afghanistan dominated throughout the field restrictions. The first success came their way when Zazai holed out in the deep off JJ Smit for 33 off 27. After his exit, Shahzad was kept quiet too, while Rahmanullah Gurbaz was pinned lbw against the leg-spin of Loftie-Eaton for 4 at the halfway mark.

Shahzad, who struck three fours and a couple of sixes in his 33-ball stay, did his bit to restore momentum, as he counterattacked for a brief while but was caught off Trumpelmann in the 13th over only five shy of his half-century.

Playing his final game for the country, Asghar Afghan was welcomed amidst a guard of honour earlier. He got into his groove with a fierce cut for a boundary before smacking Frylinck for a six over long-off. Namibia, however, continued to keep things tight, with Afghanistan losing another wicket when Loftie-Eaton trapped Najibullah Zadran lbw.

Strong finish

Afghanistan recovered well in the death overs, scoring 51 off the last five, with Afghan and Nabi adding a quickfire 35 for the fifth wicket. The intention to attack in the death was made clear in the 16-run 17th over when the duo picked three fours amongst themselves off Smit. Afghan, however, perished in the next over for 31 while trying to scoop Trumpelmann but miscuing it to the man at point. Nabi kept the attack on from his end, finishing unbeaten on 32 off 17, with five fours to take Afghanistan to a competitive 160/5.

Namibia collapse

Namibia were under slight pressure, chasing eight runs every over. They made an unideal start, with Naveen ul Haq (3/26) striking twice to remove both openers – Craig Williams and Michael van Lingen – inside the powerplay. That rut never truly stopped, with none of their batter managing to hang around.

Gulbadin Naib cleaned up Loftie-Eaton, while Hamid Hassan, returning to the national team after half a decade, dismissed skipper Gerhard Erasmus (12 off 14) and David Wiese (26 off 30) in a similar fashion. Pegged by the constant fall of wickets, Namibia never managed to push their case to chase the target.

Rashid Khan did not need to do much, returning with a solitary scalp of Zane Green in his four overs that cost only 14. Hamid was the pick, with figures of 4-0-9-3, while Naib claimed 2/19. The collective result of the spirited bowling performance meant Namibia were restricted to 98/9, a whopping 62 runs short of what they needed to claim two points.

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