In a historic achievement, Afghanistan’s cricket team crushed Papua New Guinea by seven wickets to advance to the Super 8 stage of the ICC T20 World Cup for the first time.
Afghanistan topped Group C with three wins and a net run rate of +4.230.
Winning the toss, Afghanistan elected to bowl and dismissed all Papua New Guinea players by 19.5 overs, limiting the target to 96 runs. Fazulhaq Farooqi starred with three wickets for 16 runs, while Naveenul Haq took two wickets for just four runs.
Despite losing early wickets of openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran, Gulbadin Naib’s 49 runs off 36 balls propelled Afghanistan towards victory. Mohammad Nabi sealed the win with a six on the first ball of the 16th over.
The national team is set to play its fourth match of Group C against the West Indies on June 18.
