Tarouba [Trinidad and Tobago], June 14 (ANI): Following his side’s seven-wicket win over Papua New Guinea, Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan expressed happiness at his side’s qualification to the Super Eights stage and expressed the importance of both bowlers and batters playing an attacking game.
A magnificent three-wicket haul by pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi and a fine knock by Gulbadin Naib powered Afghanistan to a seven-wicket win over Papua New Guinea in their ICC T20 World Cup match at Trinidad and Tobago on Friday.
Speaking in the post-match presentation, Rashid said, “Feeling great to qualify for the next round. Great effort from the boys since game one. They know what they to do and have executed beautifully, making things easy for me. It is important to have someone like Gurbaz who goes out and takes on the bowling or Farooqi who picks up wickets in the powerplay. If the batter is attacking then as a bowler you have to attack too especially with pitches helping you.”The skipper also said that today, other batters got a chance to spend time in the middle and everyone is in fine form, having participated in a domestic tournament before the World Cup.
“They (the openers) have given us good starts in the last two games and today was a good opportunity for the others to spend some time in the middle. We had a domestic competition before coming here and everyone is in form. That is the beauty of playing of franchise cricket as you know the conditions, some of them have played at St Lucia and know how the pitch will play which will help others. Everyone has the skill to adjust to any condition and hopefully, we will win that game (against West Indies) as well,” he added.
Coming to the match, Afghanistan won the toss and put PNG to bowl first. PNG kept losing wickets at regular intervals, with Fazalhaq Farooqi (3/16) and Naveen ul Haq (2/4) firing all cylinders in the first half of the innings. Though wicketkeeper-batter Kiplin Doriga (27 in 32 balls, with two fours) played a fighting knock, PNG was restricted to 95 runs in 19.5 overs.
In the run-chase of 96 runs, Afghanistan lost their openers early and was reduced to 22/2. A partnership of 33 runs between Gulbadin Naib (49 in 36 balls, with four boundaries and two sixes) and Azmatullah Omarzai (13 in 18 balls, with a four) and a 46-run partnership between Naib and Mohammed Nabi (16 in 23 balls, with a four) helped Afghanistan reach the winning total in 15.1 overs.
Farooqi took home the ‘Player of the Match’ award.
With this win, Afghanistan have made it three wins in three matches and reached the Super Eights stage along with West Indies. Also, New Zealand, who have lost to Afghanistan and WI so far, have crashed out from the tournament. (ANI)