In the 17th match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021, Group 2 teams Afghanistan National Cricket Team and Scotland National Cricket Team competed against each other at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Monday, October 25. Remarkably, Afghanistan won the game comfortably by a huge margin of 130 runs.
Going into the match, Scotland had a lot of momentum on their side as they won three games in a row in the first round of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021. On the other hand, Afghanistan successfully defeated the defending champions West Indies in the warm-up game but lost to South Africa.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bat first. Afghanistan openers Mohammad Shahzad and Hazratullah Zazai got off to a bright start. They scored just two runs in the first over but hit 18 runs in the second over.
Safyaan Sharif made the breakthrough for Scotland when he dismissed Mohammad Shahzad in the 6th over. At the end of the power play, Afghanistan were 55/1
Hazratullah Zazai was sent back to the pavilion after a stellar knock of 44 runs in the 10th over by Mark Watt. After that, Najibullah Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz showed a batting masterclass and managed to add 87 runs in 52 balls with Najibullah Zadran contributing and adding 49 (29) Rahmanullah Gurbaz 35 with 23. In the end, the team led by Mohammad Nabi was able to post a very good overall score of 190/4.
Chasing the target, Scotland got off to a decent start but captain Kyle Coetzer was sent off by spinner Mujeeb-ur-Rahman in the 4th over and Scotland suffered a massive batting slump after that. They lost wickets in the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 11th overs and the team was bundled out for just 60 runs. George Munsey was the team’s top scorer with 25 runs. There were a total of 5 batters who got out on a duck and only 3 batters scored double-digit runs. Afghanistan spinners Mujeeb-ur-Rahman and Rashid Khan dominated the game as Mujeeb took a 5-wicket haul and Rashid took a 4-wicket haul.
Meanwhile, Scotland’s winning streak had ended and Afghanistan reached the top of the points table in Group 2 with an astonishing net run rate.
T20 World Cup 2021: Super 12 points table by Scotland vs Afghanistan
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