Defending champions got off to a rollicking start as they defeated minnows Afghanistan by a huge margin of 116 runs in the second match of Group A in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup. Afghanistan would have been a bit confident going into the match after their commendable performance against India, but nothing went right for the in-experienced Afghans.
Like the last match Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bowl first. The decision seemed to have worked as England could not break free in the first ten overs and could only manage 70 losing two wickets. But the English batsmen broke the shackles and scored close to 120 runs in the next ten.
Afghanistan chasing a stiff task were never in the game as they lost eight wickets for only 26 runs. Some good late order batting ensured that Afghanistan cross the 50 run-mark.
Let’s have a look at some of the hits and flops of the match.
England:
Hits:
Luke Wright: Wright batted on a position where the infamous Kevin Pietersen used to bat and he sure did bat like Pietersen on his best day. Wright took his time and got used to the conditions and once he was settled he unleashed his big strokes. Wright was unlucky to have missed out his century by just one run, his unbeaten innings of 99 included eight fours and six massive sixes.
Stuart Broad: All the English bowlers enjoyed themselves against the week Afghanistan batting line-up. Broad ended the match with figures of 2-10.
Samit Patel: Patel first played a good little innings of 12 runs from five balls and then came up with the best figures of the night. He took two wickets giving away only six runs.
Afghanistan:
Hits:
Dawlat Zadran: He was very impressive against ndia and was the most economical bowler from his team. He once again bowled splendidly and conceded only 22 runs from his quota of four overs.
Gulbodin Naib: He was the only Afghan batsmen to get into double figures. He took out Afghanistan from an embarrassing position and ensured that they do not get their lowest ever total. He batted intelligently and hit some massive sixes. His innings of 44 included three sixes and five fours.
Flops:
Mohammad Nabi: He was brilliant against India but couldn’t do much in this match. He is the best all-round cricketer in the Afghanistan team and a lot depended on him. First he failed with the ball conceding 46 runs in his four overs, with the bat he could only score one run.
Izatullah Dawlatzai: He was the most expensive bowler from the Afghan team conceding 56 runs in just three overs. He went for more than 18 runs an over and that is simply un-acceptable at this level.
By Indian Sports News Network
