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Rising Afghanistan Chase Record Total in Sharjah
It could not have got better than this. Not for nothing Afghanistan is fast growing into becoming a team to reckon with in cricket.
Recently qualifying to the World Twenty20 after emerging winners in the Twenty20 qualifiers held in the UAE, they had attracted huge appreciation from the entire world.
But what they did at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Tuesday was something next to the unbelievable. They created history by chasing a record total on the final day to win the four-day match against Canada by six wickets in the ICC Intercontinental Cup.
With the first three days completely dominated by Canada, who held the first innings advantage also, it needed a special performance from Afghanistan to finish on a high.
When they came into bat on Monday, Afghanistan knew it was no easy task. But they made a positive start scoring 40 runs in 13 overs overnight without losing a wicket.
Needing another 454 on the final day to win the match, Mohammad Shahzad, promoted up the order, came up with a special innings scoring an unbeaten double century that saw Afghanistan achieve the target in 106.4 overs.
Shahzad, took it upon himself and played a very responsible knock of 215 runs off just 258 balls that was studded with 16 boundaries.
Coming in to bat after Karim Sadiq (42) was packed off by Rizwan Cheema, Sahazad shared three vital partnerships, including two century stands, en route to victory.
Though his partnership with Noor Ali (52) added just 49 runs for the second wicket, his third-wicket stand of 163-runs with skipper Nowroz Mangal (70) set the ball rolling. Mangal’s innings included two sixes and three boundaries.
After Mangal departed, Shahzad did not flutter but continued his good work with big hitting Mohammad Nabi, who was promoted from No. 8 to No.5. Both shared another crucial 178-run partnership in which Nabi blasted 80 runs in just 87 balls that included seven boundaries and one six.
Once Asghar Stanikzai came in after Nabi’s departure, he was certainly was in a hurry slamming 22 runs in 17 balls to finish of a memorable win for Afghanistan.
“In my entire three years as a coach, I have never seen such a solid performance. It’s indeed a great achievement from our boys. This just shows how much of depth our batting has,” said a delighted Afghanistan coach Kabir Khan.
“We have now proved that we are really good in Twenty20, ODIs and even four-day games. This is indeed a big thing for us. We have beat all good teams in the process of achieving so much,” the former Pakistan international said.
About the gameplan, Khan said: “The previous day when we had to bat for 13 overs, we had kept it simple not to lose any wickets. But today when we calculated, the required runrate was just around four runs per over. We knew in case we play responsibly we could achieve it. So I told the boys not to look at the target and play their regular game.”
“I’m happy that the boys managed to achieve it. This just shows how our team is hungry to play cricket,” he said praising the boys for their efforts.
Praising the sensational innings of Shahzad, the coach said: “He came earlier in the day and requested to go up the order and wanted to take the responsibility of playing a big innings.
“So we promoted him to No. 3 and after that what happened was there for everybody to see. He stood up to the challenge and played one of the most amazing innings.”
“Winning always brings moral boost so this win should do a world of good for us to prepare ahead of the World Twenty20.”
Afghanistan will be returning home in another couple of days where a series of parties await them to celebrate their qualification for the World Twenty20.
Scoreboard: Canada (1st innings): 566. Afghanistan (1st innings): 264. Canada (2nd innings): 191. Afghanistan (2nd innings / overnight 40 for no loss): Karim Sadiq c Hansra b Rizwan Cheema 42, Noor Ali c Bastiampillai b Dhaniram 52, Mohammad Shahzad (not out) 215, Nowroz Mangal c & b David 70, Mohammad Nabi c sub (HS Baidwan) b Patel 80, Asghar Stanikzai (not out) 22. Extras: (b-5, lb-3, w-4, nb-1) 13. Total: (for 4 wickets; 106.4 overs) 494. Fall of Wickets: 1-70, 2-119, 3-282, 4-460. Bowling: Rizwan Cheema 22-0-119-1 (1w), Khurram Chohan 17-1-72-0, NR Kumar 8.4-1-43-0, S Jyoti 24-0-105-0, H Patel 8-1-47-1 (2w), S Dhaniram 11-2-30-1, R David 16-0-70-1 (1nb).
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