Scotland stood no chance as Afghanistan beat the European team by 130 runs in one of the most lopsided contests in World Cup history. Afghanistan put on a massive 190 runs total and Scotland skittled for a mere 60 runs.
All the batters for Afghanistan come to the party
Mohammad Shahzad and Hazaratullah Zazai made their intent clear in the early parts of the game. The pair put on 54 runs in just 34 balls before Safyaan Sharif dismissed Shahzad who made 22 runs. That didn’t deter Zazai and he continued to flay the attack, making 44 runs in 30 balls before spinner Watt had him bowled. The wicket brought Najibullah Zadran to the crease who looked the most dangerous of all the batters.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Zadran took Scottish bowlers completely out of the game as the pair put on 87 runs in 52 balls. Gurbaz struck 4 sixes and had made 46 runs off 37 balls before Josh Davey had his wicket. Meanwhile, Najibullah made a half-century and before falling on the last ball to Sharif, he had already made 59 runs off 34 balls. Mohammad Nabi also played a late-hand of 11 runs in 4 balls enabling Afghanistan to put on a massive 190.
The spin web
Scotland had zero answers for the Afghanistan bowing. Kyle Coetzer and George Munsey put on 28 runs for the first wicket in 20 balls but then started the doom. Mujeeb Ur Rahman zipped one past Coetzer to start the carnage and once Kyle left, the others followed. Rahman claimed two more in the same over and reduced Scotland to 28 for 3. Then Naveen-ul-Haq had Matthew Cross caught. Rahman seemed to be hungry for more and struck again to remove the highest scorer for Scotland, Munsey, who got out for 25.
Then Rashid Khan started a demolition job of his own and scooped up four of the remaining five wickets, who got the one other strike? Of course, Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman! The duo reduced Scotland to 60 and the team lost its ten wickets for 32 runs after a 28 runs start. Rahman took five wickets, Rashid took four and Naveen took one as none of the Scottish batters fell either to an LBW or got clean bowled completely unable to read both the spinners.