The Afghanistan juggernaut is carrying on its vicious form in this ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, as they won their fourth match of this year’s event with another thumping win by 7 wickets against the Netherlands in Lucknow on Friday.
After losing the toss and chasing, it was the third clinical run-chase in a row for Afghanistan and they have become a force to reckon with at present! 179 was always going to be a paltry total on a decent batting surface and Netherlands had their backs to the wall at the halfway stage. Had it not been for Engelbrecht’s fifty, things would have been even more gloomy for the Dutch.
Had it not been for Engelbrecht’s fifty, things would have been even more gloomy for the Dutch. Gurbaz was strangled down leg quite cheaply by van Beek and Zadran couldn’t make an impact either as van der Merwe knocked him over. But, there was no scoreboard pressure on Afghanistan. Rahmat Shah looked fluent from the get-go and found the perfect foil in Shahidi. Both of them kept scoring runs at a brisk pace and batted Netherlands out of the game. The bowlers tried their best but they didn’t have enough runs to play with. Perhaps, winning the toss and opting to bat backfired on Netherlands. The ball came onto the bat better under lights and dew also played its role - the Afghanistan batters made merry.
Earlier, Netherlands trapped in Afghanistan's spin web as they posted a mere 179.
The Dutch won the toss and opted to bat but were undone by seeing four of their batsmen run-out.
The Dutch recovered from seeing 39-year-old opener Wesley Barresi dismissed by spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman in the first over.
Max O'Dowd and Colin Ackermann put on 70 for the second wicket when a series of run-outs put them on the back foot.
O'Dowd was on 42 when he was beaten by a direct hit by Azmatullah Omarzai from fine leg.
With the score on 92-2, Ackermann (29) failed to make his ground when Ikram Alikhil whipped off the bails from a smart throw by Rashid Khan.
On the next delivery, skipper Scott Edwards swept, lost sight of the ball and as he wandered aimlessly out of his crease Alikhil ran him out without scoring.
Mohammad Nabi and teenage wrist spinner Noor Ahmad then sent back Bas de Leede, Saqib Zulfiqar and Logan van Beek thanks to three pieces of smart work by wicketkeeper Alikhil.
Sybrand Engelbrecht had made 58 with six fours when he became the fourth run-out of the innings, failing to beat Nabi's throw from midwicket.
That left the Dutch on 152-8 before they went on to be bowled out after 46.3 overs.
Nabi was the pick of the bowlers with the veteran off-spinner taking 3-28.
