Press Trust of India
Nagpur, March 12: Afghanistan romped into the main round of the ICC World T20 after thrashing Zimbabwe by a whopping 59 runs in their final Group B qualifying contest, here Saturday.
In a do-or-die match, the Afghans outplayed Zimbabwe in all departments by first scoring a challenging 186/6 in 20 overs and then bowling out opposition for 127 in 19.4 overs. Afghanistan won all their three qualifying round matches having won their first two games against Scotland and Hong Kong respectively. Afghanistan have been clubbed with England, Sri Lanka, West Indies and South Africa for the Super 10 and they will open their campaign against Sri Lanka.
The Afghans turned the match on its head during the last 10 overs of their innings with Mohammed Nabi (52, 32b, 4×4, 2×6) and Samiullah Shenwari (43, 37b, 1×4, 1×6) adding 98 runs for the fifth wicket. In the back-10, Afghanistan scored a massive 113 runs after the first 10 overs produced 73 for the loss of four wickets. The only successful bowler for Zimbabwe was Tinashe Panayngara (3/32).
Zimbabwe were never really in contention as they could score only 39 in the powerplay overs. They lost wickets at regular intervals with none of their batsmen crossing 20-run mark. Leg-spinner Rashid Khan (3/11) was the most successful bowler for the winners.
