Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh): Skipper Hashmat Shahidi led from the front as Afghanistan recorded their fourth win of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 by defeating the Netherlands by seven wickets at the Ekana Stadium here on Friday.
First, the Afghan bowlers wrekced havoc and bowled out the opposition for 179 in just 46.3 overs and chased the target inside 32 overs. The chase turned out to be a walk in the park even as Shahidi, who remained unbeaten on 56 off 64 balls, anchored the chase. The Asian side lost opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz (10) early but one-down Rahmat Shah joined forces with Ibrahim Zadran as the duo added 28 runs before the latter was dismissed.
It was the Rahmat (52 off 54 balls)-Shahidi partnership that took the game away from the Netherlands. The duo added 74 runs for the third wicket, even as Afghanistan inched closer to victory. While Rahmat hammered eight boundaries, Shahidi's knock was laced with six hits to the advertising fences.
It was only befitting that Shahidi wrapped up the game on the third ball of the 31st over with a boundary as celebrations erupted in the Afghan camp. The Afghan story has been the story of the World Cup and courtesy the win, they have jumped to the fifth spot with eight points.
They have two games left and if they win both games, they can go to 12 points. Earlier, the Netherlands were in trouble thanks to a middle-order collapse and were bundled out for 179 in 46.3 overs in an ICC World Cup league match at the Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium here on Friday. Opting to bat first, the Dutch team was never in control of the proceedings, losing wickets one after another due to some disciplined bowling for the Afghanistan bowlers.