Shenwari, Sharafuddin sink Netherlands
Powerful strokes from Samiullah Shenwari and Najibullah Zadran in the last five overs of Afghanistan's innings and accurate bowling from Sharafuddin Ashraf led them to a convincing 32-run win against Netherlands on the opening day of the World T20 Qualifi
ESPNcricinfo staff
09-Jul-2015
Afghanistan 162 for 7 (Shenwari 44, Najibullah 33, Nabi 33, Malik 3-36) beat Netherlands 130 (Cooper 36, Dawlat 3-17, Sharafuddin 3-27) by 32 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball-details
Scorecard and ball-by-ball-details
Powerful strokes from Samiullah Shenwari and Najibullah Zadran in the last five overs of Afghanistan's innings and accurate bowling from Sharafuddin Ashraf led them to a convincing 32-run win against Netherlands on the opening day of the World T20 Qualifier. Afghanistan recovered from early jitters to score 162 for 7 before bowling Netherlands out for 130 in the last over on a slow pitch in Edinburgh.
Put in to bat, Afghanistan lost Mohammad Shahzad and Asghar Stanikzai to Mudassar Bukhari who targeted the stumps with some nipping seam movement. Once Nawroz Mangal also fell in the seventh over for 29 off 23, Shenwari and Mohammad Nabi rebuilt with a stand of 57 for the fourth wicket, nearly taking them to 100. Nabi counterattacked with sixes off left-arm spinners Roelof van der Merwe and Pieter Seelaar, before falling for 33 in the 16th over. Najibullah started with a first-ball six and clobbered van der Merwe for 22 in the 18th over, to give his side a sudden shot in the arm. They lost three wickets in the last over but also collected 68 runs in the last five overs.
Netherlands started well by scoring 51 for 1 in the Powerplay overs as Ben Cooper struck three well-timed sixes. Sharafuddin pulled things in Afghanistan's favour when Cooper holed out on his second ball to long-off for an easy catch, and Netherlands failed to put on substantial partnerships after the second-wicket stand of 49 between Michael Swart and Cooper. Swart was run out in the next over and Sharafuddin had Peter Borren stumped three overs later. Van der Merwe holed out five balls later and once they were 95 for 5 with a required run rate of nearly 11, things went only downhill for them.
They lost their last five wickets for 24 runs as the pressure kept rising and Dawlat Zadran finished with 3 for 17 from 3.4 overs, while Sharafuddin took 3 for 27.