Staff Reporter.
A dominant display from Afghanistan saw them crush Namibia by 62 runs in the Men’s T20 World Cup to boost their semi-final hopes.
Chasing 161 after Afghanistan’s imposing effort, Namibia limped to 98-9 from 20 overs.
Opener Craig Williams’ departure in the first over set the tone for the rest of the innings as Namibia failed to gain any momentum.
Hamid Hassan, playing his first international T20 since 2016, took a brilliant 3-9 and fellow seamer Naveen-ul-Haq also shone with 3-26.
Afghanistan, bouncing back from their defeat by Pakistan, continued to buck the trend of the tournament so far by choosing to bat first and back their bowlers to defend a score.
Hard-hitting openers Hazratullah Zazai and Mohammad Shahzad added 53 for the first wicket before captain Mohammad Nabi (32 not out from 17) and Asghar Afghan (31 from 23), playing his last international match, boosted their total with some useful lower-order runs.
The victory keeps Afghanistan second in the table behind Pakistan, but having played more games than India and New Zealand, who meet at 14:00 GMT.
Despite Afghanistan’s remarkable rise in international T20 cricket, not many would have backed them to make it out of a group that included India, Pakistan and New Zealand.
Having perhaps predictably thrashed Scotland, they came agonisingly close to victory against Pakistan and having now comfortably beaten Namibia they have two wins and the benefit of a very healthy net run-rate.
It was an emotional match for former Afghanistan captain Asghar, who announced on Saturday that he would be retiring after this fixture.
His aggressive knock helped his side to their defendable total.
But the emotion came after his dismissal when his own team-mates formed a tunnel with their bats as he left the field.
Asghar gave an emotional interview after Afghanistan’s batting innings, wiping tears from his eyes as he spoke and was carried from the field on the shoulders of his team-mates at the end.
“I am retiring because I want to give the youngsters a chance. As a team we are playing very good cricket and it is a good opportunity for them to come forward,” he said.