LUCKNOW – A disciplined performance helped Afghanistan defeat the Netherlands by seven wickets in a group stage match of the World Cup 2023 at Lucknow stadium on Friday.
The chase start from Afghanistan was bumpy was they lost the opening pair for cheap scores. At this point, Rahmat Shah and Hashmat Shahidi built a strong partnership to boost the total.
After Shah fell for 52, Azmat Omarzai and Shahidi played unbeaten innings of 56 and 31, respectively, to secure win for their team.
Earlier, the Netherlands have set an easy target of 180 runs for Afghanistan.
The team took a reasonable start after losing one opener in the first over. From top order Max O’Dowd smashed 42, Colin Ackermann 29 while Sybrand Engelbrecht remained top scorer with 58 runs.
After their dismissal, the Netherlands could not recover from pressure as all remaining players were removed for cheap scores.
Earlier, Netherlands won the toss and elected to bat first against Afghanistan.
With only two wins so far, Netherlands have a trickier path to the semi-finals but could give their chances a huge boost with two points from this crunch clash.
With two crucial #CWC23 points up for grabs, which team takes a step towards a top 4 spot? 🤔
More on #NEDvAFG ➡️ https://t.co/IvM9TVqOwj pic.twitter.com/5Yo06abnpj
— ICC Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) November 3, 2023
The sides have only met in nine previous ODIs with Netherlands winning the first of those in 2009 but only coming out on top once more in 2012.
Afghanistan won all three of their encounters in Doha at the start of last year when batting first and holding Netherlands at arm’s length in the chase, but the stakes are much higher this time for the two emerging sides both in good form.
Squads
Netherlands: Scott Edwards (c), Max O’Dowd, Bas de Leede, Vikram Singh, Teja Nidamanuru, Paul van Meekeren, Colin Ackermann, Roelof van der Merwe, Logan van Beek, Aryan Dutt, Ryan Klein, Wesley Barresi, Saqib Zulfiqar, Shariz Ahmad, Sybrand Engelbrecht.
Afghanistan: Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Abdul Rahman, Naveen ul Haq
