PROVIDENCE, Guyana, CMC – A career-best spell from Fazalhaq Farooqi followed half-centuries from openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran, and Afghanistan crushed Uganda by 125 runs in the ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup on Monday.
The 23-year-old pacer bagged five for nine from four overs to earn the Player-of-the-Match award, and the Ugandans, chasing 184 to win, were bowled out for their record-lowest T20I total of 58 in 16 overs in a lopsided Group C match under the lights at the Guyana National Stadium.
No Ugandan batter reached 20, and pacer Naveen-ul-Haq and leg-spinner Rashid Khan completed the demolition with two wickets.
Gurbaz, a member of the Indian Premier League-winning Kolkata Knight Riders, hit the top score of 76 off 45 balls, and fellow opener Zadran supported with 70 off 46 balls.
They shared 154 for the first wicket and, after the Asian side was put into bat, set the foundation for an Afghanistan total of 183 for four from their allocation of 20 overs.
“You want to start well, and you want to be one from one and sort of kick your tournament off, so to do that and win convincingly is very pleasing,” Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott, a former England batsman, said.
“Our opening partnership was perfect and set a great platform. I think we didn’t capitalize on it as much as we could, and that’s something we need to work on going forward, so the exciting thing is there are still things we can do better, and as a coach, that’s the challenge for the players, but also exciting for us if we can get that right.”
Trott added: “I think a lot of people have spoken us up – but again, you know cricket can change very quickly, and we’ve got to take it one game at a time, so the only thing we’re focused on – and I know it’s a very boring very cliche – but is our next match against New Zealand, who are a perfect side… I’m looking forward to that.”
“I think net run rate may play its part in a tight group with the quality of sides. I don’t worry too much about the weather and the rain – that’s up to the cricketing gods. But I think it’s more of a confidence boost in how we played and finished off the game as well. I think Fazal [Farooqi] played well, bowled well, and helped the whole team play well, so that’s pleasing.”
Farooqi gave Afghanistan the perfect start to their defense when he bowled Ronak Patel for four and trapped Roger Mukasa lbw for a duck off back-to-back deliveries in the first over.
The paceman missed out on a hat-trick, but he was still involved in the match when he held a catch at short fine leg, and off-spinner Mujeeb-ur-Rahman removed Simon Ssezai from a top-edged sweep for four in the second over.
Uganda was eight for three, and they tumbled further when Naveen struck twice in the span of three balls in the fifth over, and he bowled Dinesh Nakrani for six and got Alpesh Ramjani caught at slip for a second-ball duck.
The African side closed the Power Play on 21 for five, and Riazat Ali and Robinson Obuya had a brief stand of 29. Still, Farooqi returned to deliver the knockout punches, taking three of the last five wickets that Uganda lost for 11 in 24 balls.
Earlier, Gurbaz and Zadran raced Afghanistan to 66 without loss at the close of the Power Play and carried them to 102 without loss at the halfway stage.
An eventful 14th over from Bilal Hassan that included five no-balls and five wides helped Afghanistan past 150 before Brian Masaba made the breakthrough when he bowled Zadran in the 15th over with a low delivery.
Gurbaz was caught at deep square leg in the next over off left-arm spinner Ramjani, but none of the remaining Afghanistan batters could match the savagery of their openers.
Uganda will play its second match in the tournament against Papua New Guinea on Wednesday under the lights at the same venue, where Afghanistan will meet New Zealand in another night-time contest on Friday.
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