Afghanistan beat the Netherlands on Friday, their fourth win in a row, keeping their hopes of making it to the semi-finals of the World Cup 2023 alive. While Rahmat Shah scored 52 runs and Hashmat Shahidi scored 56 runs, respectively, they led the Afghan team to victory with a relatively low 180-run score.
Afghanistan is currently in fifth place in the points table, having won four and lost three of their seven games so far. Their win today made their chances of making it to the semi-finals of the World Cup much better. Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran, two Afghan openers who were batting second, were out in the first few overs. But Rahmat Shah and Shahidi worked together in a way that helped their team win an important game.
Afghanistan beat Netherlands to advance to World Cup 2023 semis
Shah has scored 264 runs with an impressive average of 44 in the World Cup so far. He stepped up again after his team lost two early wickets and made 52 runs, working with his captain to make a 74-run partnership. Shahidi (56) and Azmatullah Omarzai (31) stayed in the game until the end and helped their team win by seven wickets.
When they batted first earlier in the day, the Dutch were only able to score 179 runs in 46.3 overs. This was mostly because of the bad running between the wickets by the Afghan spinners, Mohammad Nabi and Noor Ahmed.
The Dutch got off to a bad start when starter Wesley Barresi was out in the first over, but they kept their cool and started playing good cricket, but they ended up playing against themselves. When they scored 42, 29, and 58 runs, Max O’Dowd, Collin Ackerman, and Sybrand Engelbrecht, their three best players, were all run out.
The Dutch could have scored a good score, but their captain, Scott Edwards, was out on the first ball, leaving his team with a score of 92-4 after 18.4 overs. Afghanistan’s favorite bowlers were Nabi, who had three wickets, and Noor, a young man, who had two. In another important match, Afghanistan will play the hot Australia on November 7 in Mumbai. On November 8, the Netherlands will play the failing England in Pune.
