Afghanistan’s cricketing journey has been one spent in the wilderness, with the side forced to play all its international matches away from home due to the situation back home.
For a brief while, in 2019, the city of Lucknow acted as Afghanistan’s ‘home’, with the side taking on West Indies in an ODI series and a solitary Test here.
On Friday, Afghanistan celebrated its return to the City of Nawabs by outclassing the Netherlands by seven wickets in the ODI World Cup at the Ekana Stadium.
For the third match running, the Afghans chased down a target as they moved to fifth in the points table to put themself on the cusp of a first-ever World Cup semifinal.
Afghan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi led from the front with his third fifty of the tournament. He put on a 74-run partnership with Rahmat Shah, who dominated the stand with a stroke-filled half-century.
Shahidi hit the winning runs with a lofted shot to the deep mid-wicket fence, much to the joy of the 20,000+ crowd which came to welcome the Afghans back.
Afghanistan’s win though was virtually sealed long before by the unrelenting performance it put up in the field before.
The Netherlands, which elected to bat, was shaken early when Mujeeb ur Rahman trapped opener Wesley Baressi in front in the first over.
But the Dutch recovered as they pushed on to end the opening PowerPlay at 66 for one, their best tally in the opening 10 overs this World Cup.
Opener Max O’Dowd was the driving force in this early surge, with the right-handed batter scoring some effortless boundaries, while Colin Ackermann offered the requisite support.
But the Netherlands’ hopes of capitalising on the early momentum were quickly doused, thanks to some inspired Afghan fielding.
All-rounder Omarzai triggered the collapse by running out the free-flowing O’Dowd with a direct hit from fine leg. Ackermann too suffered the same fate, with crowd favourite Rashid Khan executing the throw this time, while the Dutch skipper Scott Edwards was caught outside the crease by a sprightly Afghan wicket-keeper Ikram Alikhil.
Mohammad Nabi and the returning left-arm wrist spinner Noor Ahmad continued to tighten the screws with regular wickets.
Once Sybrand Engelbrecht, who scored a battling half-century, was run out – the fourth Dutch batter to fall in that manner – the Netherlands was forced to settle for a below-par total, which would soon be surmounted by Afghanistan.
Scoreboard
NETHERLANDS INNINGS: Wesley Barresi lbw b Mujeeb 1 (4b), Max O’Dowd run out 42 (40b, 9x4), Colin Ackermann run out 29 (35b, 4x4), Sybrand Engelbrecht run out 58 (86b, 6x4), Scott Edwards run out 0 (1b), Bas de Leede c Alikhil b Nabi 3 (6b), Saqib Zulfiqar c Alikhil b Noor 3 (15b), Logan van Beek st. Alikhil b Nabi 2 (13b), Roelof van der Merwe c Ibrahim b Noor 11 (33b), Aryan Dutt (not out) 10 (22b), Paul van Meekeren lbw b Nabi 4 (24b); Extras (lb-2, w-14): 16.
Total (in 46.3 overs): 179.
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-3 (Barresi, 0.5 overs), 2-73 (O’Dowd, 11.3), 3-92 (Ackermann, 18.3), 4-92 (Edwards, 18.4), 5-97 (de Leede, 20.2), 6-113 (Zulfiqar, 25.3), 7-134 (van Beek, 30.6), 8-152 (Engelbrecht, 34.4), 9-169 (van der Merwe, 41.1).
AFGHANISTAN BOWLING: Mujeeb 10-0-40-1, Farooqi 5-0-36-0, Omarzai 3-0-11-0, Nabi 9.3-1-28-3, Rashid 10-0-31-0, Noor 9-0-31-2.
AFGHANISTAN INNINGS: Rahmanullah Gurbaz c Edwards b van Beek 10 (11b, 2x4), Ibrahim Zadran b van der Merwe 20 (34b, 2x4), Rahmat Shah c & b Zulfiqar 52 (54b, 8x4), Hashmatullah Shahidi (not out) 56 (64b, 6x4), Azmatullah Omarzai (not out) 31 (28b, 3x4); Extras (lb-3, w-7, nb-2): 12.
Total (for three wkts. in 31.3 overs): 181.
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-27 (Gurbaz, 5.3), 2-55 (Ibrahim, 10.1), 3-129 (Rahmat, 22.4).
NETHERLANDS BOWLING: Dutt 8.3-0-49-0, van Beek 7-0-30-1, van Meekeren 5-0-35-0, van der Merwe 5-0-27-1, Zulfiqar 3-0-25-1, Ackermann 3-0-12-0.
Toss: Netherland.
PoM: Nabi.
Afghanistan won by seven wickets with 111 deliveries to spare.
