A dominant Afghanistan crushed Papua New Guinea by seven wickets to storm into the Super Eight of the T20 World Cup in Trinidad on Thursday.
Gulbadin Naib’s solid knock of 49 and fine bowling performances from the pace duo of Fazalhaq Farooqi and Naveen-ul-Haq helped Afghanistan win their third match in a row and advance to the next stage rummybo.
Afghanistan advance to Super Eight along with West Indies from Group C which means New Zealand have been eliminated from the World Cup after two straight losses.
After bowling out PNG for 95, Naib stroked an unbeaten 49 from 36 balls as Afghanistan cruised to victory in 15.1 overs.
Fazalhaq Farooqi continued his wicket ways with a three-wicket haul as Afghanistan bowled out Papua New Guinea for 95 in the T20 World Cup Group C match in Trinidad on Thursday.
The pacer took 3/16 in four overs to take his wickets tally to 12 in three games, while Naveen-ul-Haq bagged excellent figures of 2/4 in 2.5 overs. Along with three run-outs Afghanistan enjoyed another fine outing with the ball.
Put in to bat, PNG failed to build any partnerships and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Kiplin Doriga top-scored with 27, while Alei Nao (13) and Tony Ura (11) were the other two batters to score in double digits as three of them fell for ducks.
PNG lost an early wicket when captain Assad Vala was run out for 3 in the second over while going for the third run ,with wicketkeeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz catching him short with a direct hit after he failed to ground his bat rummy bo.
Gurbaz then came up with a stunning catch with the gloves as he dived full length to his right to dismiss Lega Siaka for a duck after he got an edge off Farooqi.
Gurbaz-Farooqi then combined again for another wicket off the very next delivery as Sese Bau was caught behind for a golden duck.
Naveen-ul-Haq struck with his first ball of the match as he got Hiri Hiri bowled off an inside edge for 1 before he bowled Tony Ura with a beauty in his next over to leave PNG reeling on 30/5 in the sixth over.
Chad Soper struggled against the spinners to score 9 from 26 balls before he was run out in the 10th over and Norman Vanua also perished in the same fashion, run out by Rashid for a duck, in the 13th over.
Doriga battled hard for his 27 from 32 balls, hitting two boundaries before he fell leg before wicket to Noor Ahmad in the 18th over.
Farooqi had Alei Nao caught at long-on for his third wicket before Semo Kamea was run out in the final over for 2.
It was another wonderful showing from the Afghanistan bowlers, who have dismissed their opponents under 100 in all their first three games.
