ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan beat the Netherlands by 7 wickets to register their 4th win and earned two more crucial points in the ICC World Cup contest played at Lucknow, India, on Friday. By winning the match, Afghanistan occupied the 5th position on the points table ahead of Pakistan, making their hope alive to qualify for the semifinal.
Chasing a low total of 180, Afghan openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran took a steady start. However, in the 6th over, Dutch bowler Van Beek managed to get rid of the dangerous Gurbaz on 10. When the score reached 55 in the 11th over, Netherlands got the 2nd wicket as Ibrahim Zadran was dismissed by Van der Merwe on 20.
However, like the two previous matches against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the in-form Rahmat Shah and the skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi came to the rescue. Both stayed on the crease to release the pressure. After spending time on the crease, both batters accelerated the run rate further and moved closer to the target. Rehmat also completed his 3rd consecutive half-century.
Both the betters added 74 runs, a crucial partnership for the team, and took the game away from the Dutch. In the 23rd over, Saqib Zulfiqar dismissed Rehmat on 52. However, till then, it was an easy target to chase for Afghanistan, and now they were focusing on improving their run-rate by finishing the game earlier. Rehmat was replaced by Azmatullah Omarzai, who along with Hashmatullah Shahidi, not only reached the target but also earned a better run-rate for the side.
Later, Shahidi also completed his half-century (56), while Omarzai smashed an unbeaten 30 on 28 balls. Afghanistan won the game by 7 wickets in 31.3 overs with 18.3 overs to spare. By winning the match, Afghanistan occupied 5th position on the table with 8 points ahead of Pakistan with 6 points. This was the 3rd consecutive victory by Afghanistan in the mega event.
From Netherlands, Van Beek, Merwe, and Zulfiqar Babar got one wicket each.
Netherlands Batting Against Afghanistan
Earlier winning the toss, Netherlands decided to bat first and lost their first wicket in the very first over when Mujeeb dismissed Wesley Barresi on 1. After losing the first wicket, Max O’Dowd and Colin Ackermann stayed on the crease and consolidated their innings towards a decent total. They even managed to move the scoreboard at a rate of 6 runs per over and contributed 70 runs partnership for the team.
However, from the 12th over, the debacle of Netherlands began, interestingly not because of Afghan bowlers but due to the best fielding and reckless running by Dutch batters. In the same over, Max O’Dowd got run out on 42.
In the 19th over first, Colin Ackermann was run out on 29, and then the skipper got run out on the next ball on a duck. After three consecutive run-outs, the Dutch batters came under pressure. In the 21st over, the Afghanistan spin attack also started dominating and removed Bas de Leede on three runs. At the stage, they were 97 for 5.
Later, no other batter managed to absorb the pressure except the number four batter, Sybrand Engelbrecht, who added some crucial runs to the total and completed his half-century. In the 26th over, Netherlands lost their six wickets when Allah Noor dismissed Saqib Zulfiqar on 3. The next was Logan van Beek, who was dismissed on two on the bowling of Nabi.
In the 35th over, when the score reached 152, the Netherlands suffered another run-out dismissal when the set batter, Sybrand Engelbrecht, got out on 58. The other batters from the tail added a few runs to the total. Later, the Netherlands were all out on 179 in 46.3 overs with 21 balls to spare.
From Afghanistan, Muhammad Nabi was the leading wicket-taker with three dismissals in his 9.3 overs spill. Noor Ahmad got two, while Najeeb grabbed one wicket.
Afghanistan Team
Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad and Fazalhaq Farooqi
Netherlands Team
Wesley Barresi, Max O’Dowd, Colin Ackermann, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards (c), Bas de Leede, Saqib Zulfiqar, Logan van Beek, Roelof van der Merwe, Aryan Dutt and Paul van Meekeren
