T20 World Cup 2021: Match 27, Afghanistan vs Namibia – Who Said What

The 27^th match of the T20 WC 2021 saw action between Namibia and Afghanistan where the latter won the toss at Abu Dhabi Stadium to flaunt action with willows first. The decision proved out to be quite right as they won the game by a great margin of 62 runs. Both the openers in form of Hazratullah Zazai and Mohmmad Shahzad set the perfect tone for their team by playing a substantial knock of 33 and 45 runs, respectively.

The game was already seeing Afghanistan in the dominating position before departing played Asghar Afghan produced a fine knock of 31 runs. Skipper Mohammad Nabi’s 32 of 17 balls were cherry on the cake as it pushed his team to post a fine total of 160 runs on the board. Ruben Trumpelmann and Loftie Eaton picked two wickets each for Namibia while the latter conceded at an impressive 5.20.

As soon as Namibia started chasing, they were kicked out of the race with Afghanistan bowlers flaunting an impressive class. Naveen-ul-Haq and Hamid Hassan ran through the batting order of Namibia and left them absolutely clueless. David Wiese’ 26 was the only bright spot from Namibia’s batting setup. Both the bowlers picked three wickets each and Hassan conceded merely nine runs in the event. Other bowlers including star spinner Rashid Khan were also perfect with their action.

Winning skipper, Mohammad Nabi said:

The boys have had good morale in the team. We do discuss during team meetings that we might chase at times as well. I tell the openers to go and play their game. Just go and enjoy your cricket. We are always depending on spinners but we have some quality seamers as well. Hamid bowled brilliantly today. Last night, he (Asghar Afghan) told me that tomorrow would be my last game and I was shocked. It was his decision. He has captained the side for almost 6-7 years. He was very consistent with his captaincy in T20Is. He had already decided that tomorrow will be my last game.

Losing skipper, Gerhald Erasmus  said:

 A bowling attack like that would have been tough and we knew that. First game here and the grass was cut off for some reasons. They got away with the bat as we leaked a few runs in the PP. A few partnerships stretched deep for them. The pitch didn’t change much. We tried to chase but their quality showed. The quality in the attack and in their country is wonderful. We are aware of the challenges. We need to make use of this level. This is a stepping stone for the future.

Player of the match, Naveen-ul-Haq said:

[He wants to dedicate it to Asghar Afghan and presents him the trophy] This was the first time I used the new-ball, so I had a look at the wicket and thought variations would be the key. It’s special to play in front of fans and I want to thank them for supporting us. He is the best captain Afghanistan has ever produced (on Asghar), he has done a lot for our cricket, his name will be etched in the annals of our history and he’ll be missed a lot by all of us.