The match itself saw Afghanistan opting to field first after winning the toss. Papua New Guinea struggled to build momentum, consistently losing wickets throughout their innings.
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Fazalhaq Farooqi and Naveen ul Haq led Afghanistan’s bowling attack, significantly restricting PNG’s ability to score.
Despite a resilient effort from Kiplin Doriga, PNG was limited to a total of 95 runs.
Afghanistan faced an early setback, losing two openers and finding themselves at 22/2. However, a solid partnership between Gulbadin Naib and Azmatullah Omarzai, followed by another significant partnership between Naib and Mohammed Nabi, propelled Afghanistan towards the target.
Naib’s performance, in particular, stood out as he edged closer to a half-century, facilitating Afghanistan’s chase and ensuring a victory within 15.1 overs.
Afghanistan’s captain, Rashid Khan, was satisfied with the team’s performance and the strategic approach that has been pivotal in their success.
“Feeling great to qualify for the next round. Great effort from the boys since game one. They know what they to do and have executed beautifully, making things easy for me. It is important to have someone like Gurbaz who goes out and takes on the bowling or Farooqi who picks up wickets in the powerplay. If the batter is attacking then as a bowler you have to attack too especially with pitches helping you,” said the Aghan captain, as quoted by ANI.
“We had a domestic competition before coming here and everyone is in form. That is the beauty of playing franchise cricket as you know the conditions, some of them have played at St Lucia and know how the pitch will play which will help others. Everyone has the skill to adjust to any condition and hopefully, we will win that game (against West Indies) as well,” added Rashid Khan, attributing their readiness to a domestic tournament played prior to the World Cup.
Fazalhaq Farooqi was named ‘Player of the Match’ for his impactful bowling performance. With this win, Afghanistan not only secured their third consecutive victory in the tournament but also ensured their advancement to the Super Eights stage alongside West Indies.