A well architected 68 from Mohammad Shahzad followed by a blistering 51 from Shafiqullah saw Afghanistan cruise past Hong Kong by seven wickets to land their maiden World Twenty20 victory at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium yesterday.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Shahzad, after a first-ball duck against Bangladesh, was very cautious at the start before he opened up to hit six fours and three sixes in his 53-ball knock which made their path to overcome Hong Kong’s 153 runs easy.
Afghanistan required 86 off the last 10 overs with nine wickets in hand and the match could have seen a different winner had Hong Kong fielders put on a better display. However, a thunderous 24-ball fifty from Shafiqullah, who is also a wicketkeeper, made sure Afghanistan reached 154 with two overs to spare. Along with five fours, the 24-year-old right-handed batsman clobbered three sixes, all of which came in the same over.
Shafiqullah, including the sixes, took 24 off the 17th over bowled by 20-year-old medium pacer Aizaz Khan which effectively took the game away from Hong Kong.
Earlier, Hong Kong opted to bat first and rode on three mid-thirty innings’ from Waqas Barkat, Jamie Atkinson and Mark Chapman to scamper past 150. Irfan Ahmed made a hash of Afghan left-arm seamer Shapoor Zadran’s natural in-swing as he was cleaned up in the very first delivery before Waqas and Jamie counter attacked to add 42 in 4.2 overs.
Jamie’s quick fire 20-ball 31 contained five fours and a well timed pull over mid-wicket for six. Hong kong reached 100 for two in 13 overs, but were not able to capitalize on the scorecard as the dismissals of Waqas and Chapman were followed by a mini collapse.
Waqas returned for run-a-ball 32 while Chapman made 38 off 43 as Hong Kong lost their last six wickets for 52 runs. Shapoor, Hamza Hotak and Afghan skipper Mohammad Nabi bagged two wickets each.
After two games each in Group A, Hong Kong, who won both their warm-ups against Zimbabwe and Netherlands, are yet to register a win in the first round of the multi-national event.
