Year Review: Afghanistan team’s performance in 2015

It was only 20 years ago that Afghanistan formed its Cricket Federation, now known as Afghanistan Cricket Board. In that sense, they could be termed as the ‘new kids’ on the block. Their journey began in the true sense in 2008 when they entered the World Cricket League Division 5. Since then, this team has been on a meteoric rise. Currently, they are ranked 10 on the ICC ODI rankings. This is the first time they have broken into the top ten. This goes to show just how much has their game evolved at the top level. Along with Ireland, this team is knocking on ICC’s door for a Test status. The year 2015 was just another year when they showcased their talent in ODIs and as well as the T20Is. Here is the year review of Afghanistan’s performance. 1. Dubai triangular series: Afghanistan v Scotland World Cup 2015. (Photo Source: AFP) Afghanistan, Ireland and Scotland kicked off the year by competing for a tri-series in January in the United Arab Emirates. Of the four matches Afghanistan featured in this series, they managed two victories. Both the victories were quite convincing as they defeated both Ireland and Scotland once. Despite their valiant efforts, Afghanistan failed to win the competition as Ireland emerged victorious. 2. ICC World Cup 2015: Afghanistan. (© Getty Images) After their heroics in the qualifiers, Afghanistan qualified for the World Cup for the first time. They were pitted against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand and England in Pool A for the main competition. After losing their first match comprehensively against Bangladesh and showing some fight against the Lankans in a losing cause, the Afghans recorded their maiden World Cup win against Scotland. The victory was even sweeter as it was one heck of a nail-biting finish. Requiring 211 to win, Afghanistan just crawled past the finish line with 1 wicket and 3 balls in hand. Shapoor Zadran’s trademark celebrations after scoring the winning boundary on the back of a gritty 96 from Samiullah Shenwari gave the entire team wonderful memories to cherish forever. They ended their World Cup journey after losses against big teams like Australia, New Zealand and England. 3. World T20 Qualifiers: (Photo Source: ICC) Afghanistan played a decent qualifying round for the World T20 2016, played in Ireland and Scotland. They won 5 of the 9 matches they played in with 2 matches getting abandoned without even a ball being bowled. Afghanistan qualified for the elite competition for the fourth successive time as they defeated Netherlands, UAE, Scotland, Papua New Guinea in the group stage. They finished fifth as they beat Oman in the fifth-place play-off. Mohammad Shahzad was the highest scorer for the team as he finished with 199 runs in the tournament. Mohammad Nabi, on the other hand, was the highest wicket-taker with 10 wickets. 4. Afghanistan in Zimbabwe: (© JEKESAI NJIKIZANA/AFP/Getty Images) It was the month of October Afghanistan created history as they beat hosts Zimbabwe to win the 5-match ODI series 3-2. They disappointed in their first outing as their batting collapsed for a meagre 122. Zimbabwe chased it down with 8 wickets in hand. But the Afghans turned things around beautifully and won the second game by 58 runs. Mohammad Nabi stood out with his match winning knock of 116. Afghanistan lost the next match as their batting order could only muster a score of 223 on the board, which Zimbabwe chased down with 6 wickets in hand. Afghanistan then went on to win both the remaining matches as they clinched the series 3-2. While Mohammad Shahzad sizzled with his innings of 80 in the fourth match, Dawlat Zadran rocked the Zimbabwean batting order with his figures of 4 for 22 in the final ODI. 5. T20I series win in Zimbabwe: (© JEKESAI NJIKIZANA/AFP/Getty Images) After the ODI success, they emulated the same in the T20 series. In what can be called yet another historic series, the Afghans emphatically whitewashed the hosts Zimbabwe 2-0. Afghanistan in reply to Zimbabwe’s 153 in the first match scored the winning runs comfortably with 6 wickets in hand. The entire batting line up chipped in with valuable performances. The second match saw a high-scoring thriller going in favour of the visitors. Batting first, Zimbabwe notched up a mammoth 190 runs. With the help of Usmani Ghani and Gulbadin Naib’s 65 and 56 respectively, the Afghans crossed the line on the penultimate delivery of the innings in a high octane chase. 6. Afghanistan vs Hong Kong: Najibullah Zardan. (© Getty Images) Maybe the only disappointed of 2015 for Afghanistan came against Hong Kong in the only T20I in Abu Dhabi. They reached a par total of 162 batting first but, Hong Kong chased successfully it down with 4 wickets and 2 balls to spare. 7. Afghanistan vs Oman: (Photo Source: ICC) Afghanistan defeated Oman 2-0 in the series played in Abu Dhabi. In the first encounter, Afghanistan totalled 159 on the back of Usman Ghani’s 69. They defended the target extremely well as they dismissed Oman for 132. Sayed Shirzad recorded figures of 3 for 16. In the second match, Afghanistan batted first and compiled a total of 160 with the help of Mohammad Shahzad’s 60. Yet again, they defended well as they restricted Oman to 148 as Yamin Ahmadzai finished as the pick of the bowlers picking up 3 wickets. 8. Afghanistan vs Zimbabwe in UAE: (Photo Source: Facebook) The Afghanis continued their fine run against Zimbabwe as they recorded a win in the series opener in Sharjah on December 25. After Graeme Cremer dismantled their batting with his fine bowling figures of 5 for 20, they finished on just 131. What happened next was just spectacular. Spin twins, Amir Hamza and Mohammad Nabi picked up 4 and 3 wickets respectively to absolutely demolish the Zimbabwe batting reply as they collapsed with just 82 runs on the board. The second match saw Afghanistan rub salt into Zimbabwe’s wounds. Zimbabwe batting first put up a decent first innings score of 253 with the help of Craig Ervine’s 73. In reply, Mohammad Shahzad set the stage on fire as he amassed the highest individual score for Afghanistan in ODIs. He remained unbeaten on 131 a knock studded with 8 sixes. Afghanistan took the game with a margin of 4 wickets. (Follow the official Afghanistan cricket page on Facebook)

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Year Review: Afghanistan team’s performance in 2015

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