Afghanistan keeps on improving after losing to Bangladesh in the first match of the ICC World Cup 2023. Afghanistan beat the Netherlands by 7 wickets with 111 balls to spare. Another impressive performance for the men in blue. They are now at No.5 with 4 wins and 8 points. Their hopes of the final fours are very much alive in this mega event. But remember, Afghanistan has to face Australia and South Africa in their last two encounters.
The Netherlands won the toss and decided to bat first. Lost Wesley Barresi in first for 3 on the board. O’Dowd and Ackermann added 70 runs for the second wicket to provide their team a brilliant start. But after that, it was all Afghanistan. The main issue with the Netherlands batting lineup was the run-outs at a crucial time. 4 out of 5 top-order batters got runout which badly dented the batting lineup. Sybrand Engelbrecht was the only batter who got to his 50.
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Muhammad Nabi the Man of the Match took 3 wickets in his 10 overs spell only giving away 28 runs which is magnificent. But the most important thing was Afghanistan’s fielding. The men in blue managed to get 4 runouts which was unbelievable but they did it. Noor Ahmad was once again impressive taking wickets for 31 runs in his 9 overs.
Afghanistan chasing 180 lost Gurbaz at 27 and Ibrahim at 55 but Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah batted well to register their 4th in the World Cup and kept their hopes alive for the knockouts. New Zealand, Pakistan, Australia, and Afghanistan are in the hunt for that one spot. Tomorrow’s Pak vs NZ match will clear things that are going to qualify for the Semi-Finals.
