Afghanistan's cricket team advanced into the main round of this year's International Cricket Council (ICC) Twenty20 World Cup after beating Zimbabwe comprehensively in their third, and last, qualifying match at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur on Saturday.
The 59-run victory gives Afghanistan a place in the Super 10s. The Asian side, which won all three qualifiers, will now join South Africa, England, Sri Lanka and the West Indies in Group B for the main round, which begins on March 15, with the first match set between host India and New Zealand. The Asghar Stanikzai-led Afghans will begin their campaign against Sri Lanka at Kolkata on March 17.
Batting first, Afghanistan made 186 for six in 20 overs. Brilliant batting performances from Mohammad Nabi (52), Samiulla Shenwari (43) and Mohammad Shahzad (40) powered Afghanistan to post the massive total on the scoreboard.
Zimbabwe, in reply, was all out for 127 in 20th over. Afghan leg spinner Rashid Khan's three-wicket haul destroyed Zimbabwe's middle order.
"This match was very important for Afghanistan, the people love cricket back home. We played a few poor shots, but Sami and Nabi played very well," Stanikzai said.
"I am very happy with my performance, especially in this main match and it was a tough game in the qualifying round. The start was very good, the way Shahzad played in the first five overs. It was quite good. Then the three wickets put us under pressure, the coach [Inzamam-ul-Haq] told me to take singles until the 14th over and then the last six can be used for the big hits," Mohammad Nabi, the man of the match, said during post match media interaction.
Zimbabwean skipper Hamilton Masakadza said that the Afghans played a lot better than his side. Afghanistan, an ICC associate nation, recently defeated full-time ICC member Zimbabwe in four T20Is.
"They played a lot better than us.From the moment they hit us out in the powerplay, we were struggling. Nothing went according to the plan," Masakadza said.
Scores: Afghanistan 186/6, 20 overs - Mohammad Nabi 52, Samiullah Shenwari 43 and Mohammad Shahzad 40; Tinashe Panyangara 3-32. Zimbabwe 127 all out, 19.4 overs - Tinashe Panyangara 17 not out, Sikandar Raza 15; Rashid Khan 3-11 and Hamid Hassan 2-11.
