CHENNAI: Afghanistan opener Ibrahim's Zadran's unbeaten 56-ball 95 and Mohammed Nabi (4/7) helped Afghanistan to a 82-run victory over Canada in Group D of the T20 World Cup at the MA Chidambaram stadium on Thursday.
Having been ousted from the World Cup, Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan had said before the game that his team will play with all seriousness and sign off with a win. Zadran's knock helped ensure that his nation ended their World Cup campaign with a win saw the Rashid Khan led Afghanistan end their campaign with a win in the T20 World Cup.
"I didn't play the kind of cricket I expected from myself in the first two innings, but I always had the confidence that I would come back stronger for Afghanistan in the last two games. Today was my day - I just wanted to back my skills and believe in myself. There's always pressure and expectation, but I enjoy putting myself in those situations and embracing the challenge. I tried to stay positive, rotate the strike well, capitalise on the bad balls, and build a strong partnership with my batting partner, and I'm glad it worked out," Zadran, who dedicated his player of the match award to head coach Jonathan Trott told the broadcaster.
Chasing 200 for a win, Canada had a disastrous start. Mujeeb Ur Rahman castled Dilpreet Bajwa with a brilliant googly. Navneet Dhaliwal's farewell knock ended in heartbreak, as he was dismissed for a duck. Even Yuvraj Samra, who scored a memorable ton against New Zealand a few days ago at the same venue, caved into the pressure, as he fell to Mohammed Nabi. After that Rashid Khan shuffled his bowlers as wickets fell at regular intervals.
Put in to bat first, Afghanistan started slow with openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Zadran seemingly not forcing the pace. The left-right fast pace duo of Kaleem Sana and Dilon Heyliger troubled the duo for a while with their bounce and carry. In fact, Gurbaz was dropped at seven by Shreyas Movva off Heyliger delivery. The opening pair then capitalised on the mistake and upped the gears.
Gurbaz once got into a nice position behind the line of the ball to whack Heyliger to the cover fence.
When the duo partnership looked like blossoming, the introduction of Jaskaran Singh gave Canada the breakthrough.
Gurbaz struck him for two consecutive boundaries and while attempting the third fell to the 36-year old caught by Yuvraj at deep backward point. Three balls later in the same over Gulbadin Naib fell leg before reducing Afghanistan to 49 for 2 in the power play.
After that Zadran and Sediqullah Atal kept the scoreboard ticking. The duo raised 95 runs in 60 balls for the third wicket to set up a good platform for Afghanistan to get to the 200-run mark. Zadran batted resolutely and kept scoring runs at a regular pace at one end.
Atal too was able to score runs in Zadran's company as the duo entertained the large crowd that had turned up for the last league round match of this tournament at Chepauk.