Afghanistan beat Namibia by 62 runs to ensure their second win of the super 12 round.
Defending a target of 162, Afghan pacer Naveen-ul-Haq inflicted a shock on Namibia as he removed dangerous Craig Williams. He doubled Namibia's woes after picking another wicket in his 2nd overs.
The change of pace worked well for Afghanistan. Gulbadin Naib dismissed a well-set Loftie Eaton with another slower delivery.
Wickets kept falling at regular intervals for Namibia. David Wiese and Gerhard Erasmus gave rise to some hopes for Namibia. But an unplayable yorker from Hamid Hassan brought an end to the small partnership. David Wiese was the lone fighter for Namibia. He scored 26 runs off 30 balls before falling prey to Hamid Hassan.
Namibia managed to end the innings with a score of 98 for 9. Hamid Hassan had an exceptional figure of 3 for 9 in his four overs.
Earlier, after winning the toss, Mohammad Nabi decided to bat first citing the pitch was looking good to bat on.
Afghanistan, defying all the discussion around pragmatism, had started aggressively, as usual, putting 50 on the board after the powerplay.
Mohammad Shahzad delivered a perfect opener's innings of 45 off 33 balls. Of course, Some tight bowling from Loftie-Eaton in the middle overs gave the Afghan middle-order tough times. However, Asghar Afghan and captain Mohammad Nabi both scored 30+ runs each to set a challenging target of 161 for Namibia to chase.
Asghar Afghan scored a handy 31 off 23 balls on his last dance and departed to a standing ovation from the Afghan fans in the stadium. Earlier, Namibia had shown a wonderful gesture by giving him a guard of honour. Loftie-Eaton, with his 2 for 21, was the pick of the bowlers for Namibia.
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