Afghanistan thrashed debutants Uganda by 125 runs in the teams' opening Group C match at the Twenty20 World Cup in Guyana Monday.
Openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (76) and Ibrahim Zadran (70) laid the foundations for the victory with a superb partnership of 154 as Afghanistan finished their innings on 183/5.
Uganda were given a brutal introduction to elite tournament cricket after winning the toss and opting to bowl as Gurbaz and fellow opener Ibrahim cut loose at Providence Stadium.
Gurbaz's knock came off 45 balls and included four fours and as many sixes.
Ibrahim was similarly merciless, clubbing Uganda's bowlers around the ground to finish with 70 off 46 deliveries in an innings that included nine fours and one six.
Gurbaz and Ibrahim's opening stand was the second highest in men's T20 World Cup history, behind the 170 partnership between England's Jos Buttler and Alex Hales at the 2022 edition.
For long periods it looked as if Gurbaz and Ibrahim would go unbeaten, but Uganda staged a minor fightback late in the innings thanks to two wickets apiece from captain Brian Masaba and Cosmas Kyewuta, and one from Alpesh Ramjani.
Masaba claimed a piece of cricket history for the East African nation after taking his country's first ever T20 World Cup wicket, bowling Ibrahim in the 15th over to leave the score at 154/1.
Ramjani then removed Gurbaz, who was caught by Riazat Ali Shah at deep square leg for 76 before Masaba claimed his second wicket, getting rid of Najibullah Zadran, who was caught at deep square leg by Dinesh Nakrani.
Kyewuta claimed the wickets of Gulbadin Naib and Azmatullah Omarzai to stem the flow of Afghanistan scoring late on.
Afghanistan bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi then spearheaded a clinical bowling performance with five wickets for just nine runs as Uganda were skittled for 58.
5TH MATCH
Afghanistan 183/5 (Gurbaz 76, Ibrahim 70) beat Uganda 58 in 16 overs (Farooqi 5/9, Naveen 2/4) by 125 runs
