Afghanistan brush Papua New Guinea aside, book T20 World Cup Super Eight spot

AFGHANISTAN brushed Papua New Guinea aside by seven wickets on June 13 to advance to the Super 8 of the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup, at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Tarouba.

It was Afghanistan's third straight win, which eliminated 2021 finalists New Zealand who are winless and bottom of Group C. West Indies have also registered three straight victories in Group C.

West Indies and Afghanistan will play on June 17 in a dead rubber at Daren Sammy National Cricket Ground in St Lucia at 8.30 pm. Pre-determined seedings have already placed West Indies in Group II of the Super 8 alongside South Africa and USA. The other team in Group II is yet to be determined.

Afghanistan are in Group One alongside India and Australia. The final team is yet to qualify.

Schoolboy errors by Papua New Guinea (PNG) prevented the fans at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy from witnessing a more competitive match against Afghanistan. Poor running between the wickets, overthrows and a lack of fundamentals cost the enthusiastic PNG who again struggled with the bat.

Inserted to bat, the PNG innings got off to a positive start as Tony Ura struck off-spinner Mohammad Nabi for four with a sweetly timed cut shot.

Ura and captain Assad Vala showed intent, but their running in between the wickets was risky.

A lapse of concentration by the PNG skipper cost him his wicket as he failed to ground his bat properly and was short of the crease attempting a run.

It was quickly 12/2 in the third over when Lega Siaka was spectacularly caught by wicket-keeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz for a golden duck to give left-arm pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi his first wicket. Farooqi has tormented batsmen during the tournament with his swing bowling as he is the leading wicket-taker with 12 wickets.

It was two wickets in as many balls for Farooqi when Sese Bau got an inside edge and Gurbaz took a comfortable catch as PNG sunk to 12/3.

The batting woes continued as Hiri Hiri (one) chopped the ball onto his stumps to give fast bowler Naveen-ul-haq his first wicket.

Ura and Chad Soper tried to show fight at the crease, but it was only brief.

Naveen-ul-haq bowled Ura for 11 off 18 deliveries as PNG sunk into further trouble at 30/5 in the sixth over.

If the PNG batsmen thought they would get a reprieve from quality bowling, top-rated leg-spinner Rashid Khan was introduced into the attack.

PNG had only themselves to blame at times, as poor understanding led to the run out of Soper for nine to end a 16-run partnership with Kiplin Doriga.

At the halfway stage of the innings, PNG were reeling on 48/6 after ten overs.

Luck was also not on the side of PNG as Norman Vanua was run out for duck. In attempting to slide his bat, it got stuck in the ground momentarily inches away from the crease as PNG were now 50/7.

Alei Noa and Doriga then combined to put on an eighth-wicket partnership worth 38 runs – the biggest of the innings.

Noa and Doriga struck two fours apiece during a battling partnership.

Left-arm spinner Noor Ahmad broke the partnership with the score on 88 when Doriga was given leg-before for a top score of 27 off 32 balls.

The last two wickets fell in quick succession, including yet another run out as PNG were all out for 95 in 19.5 overs.

The second innings started just as the first innings began with costly errors. PNG gave away overthrows twice. On one occasion, four or five players were near the stumps, but the ball still managed to get past them.

The attitude and the spirit of the PNG players never faded though.

Semo Kamea’s left-arm pace proved to be a handful as he bowled opener Ibrahim Zadran for a seven-ball duck.

Fellow opener Gurbaz then chipped down the wicket and was bowled by right-arm pacer Nao for 11 to reduce Afghanistan to 22/2 in the third over.

Nao should have gotten another wicket shortly after, but wicket-keeper Doriga put down a fairly simple catch to give Gulbadin Naib a life.

Azmatullah Omarzai was bowled for 13 with the score on 55, but it was the last time PNG celebrated.

Nabi and Naib combined to add an unbroken stand of 46 runs to steer Afghanistan to victory and a spot in the Super Eight phase.

Naib, who struck a six to end the match, was unbeaten on 49 and Nabi was 16 not out.

Summarised Scores:

PAPUA NEW GUINEA 95 (19.5 overs) (Kiplin Doriga 27, Alei Nao 13; Fazalhaq Farooqi 3/16, Naveen-ul-haq 2/4) vs AFGHANISTAN 101/3 (15.1 overs) (Gulbadin Naib 49 not out, Mohammad Nabi 16 not out). Afghanistan won by seven wickets.