In the final Group D clash for both teams, Canada made a bright start against the much-fancied Afghanistan side in Chennai. Canada won the toss and decided to bowl first and have managed to get a couple of wickets in the powerplay to peg the Afghans back after the openers gave Afghanistan a good solid start. This match is now very much in the balance.
Canada strikes twice to peg Afghanistan back in powerplay.Â
Canada won the toss and elected to bowl first. Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran came out to bat for Afghanistan while Kaleem Sana had ball in hand for Canada. Sana bowled a tidy first over. Dilon Heyliger came onto bowl from the other end. Gurbaz hit the first boundary of the game as he flayed it past deep backward point for a boundary. Gurbaz was dropped as Movva the keeper made a meal of the catch.
Sana continued as Gurbaz slapped it away past diving backward point fielder for a boundary. Ibrahim took the attack to Heyliger as he sliced it away between third man and deep backward point and then slammed it past extra cover for a boundary again. Gurbaz crunched the ball over covers for another boundary. Dilpreet Bajwa came into the attack next and bowled a tight over.
Jaskaran Singh came into the attack for the last over of powerplay. Gurbaz flayed at the ball and got the edge past the keeper and away to the fence for a boundary. Gurbz then came down the track and shimmied over extra cover for a boundary. The bowler came back and got rid of Gurbaz for 30 off 20 balls with 5 fours to his name.
He bowled a short of a length outside the off-stump. Gurbaz stepped down the track and had a go at it. He tried to put the bowler under pressure and the bowler was up for it with the effort ball and it got big on Gurbaz. The top edge flew towards deep backward point. Gulbadin Naib came out to bat next after the Drinks Break. He got off the mark soon.
Jaskaran got two in the over as he removed Naib for 1 off 2 balls. The bowler bowled a good length delivery angling into the leg stump line. Naib played across the line and missed the flick on the inside edge and got hit on the pads. Looked close but the umpire said no. The Canada team went upstairs and got the decision overturned in their favour. Sediqullah Atal came out to bat next. Afghanistan are 49/2 in 6 overs of powerplay with Ibrahim batting on 14* off 14 balls and Atal has just joined him.
Ibrahim Zadran leads Afghanistan’s fightback till 10 overs.Â
Dilpreet Bajwa came back into the attack post the powerplay as the 50 came up for Afghanistan in 6.1 overs. Saad Bin Zafar came into the attack as Ibrahim went big and launched over long-off for the maximum. Bajwa continued as Atal played late and cut hard past short third man for a boundary. Ibrahim then got down on one knee and nailed the sweep behind short fine leg for a boundary.
Zafar continued as Ibrahim went big and slog swept him away over midwicket for the maximum. Ibrahim survived a LBW call as the umpire said no and the bowling team Canada wasted a review. Afghanistan at the end of 10 overs at the halfway stage of the innings were 86/2 in 10 overs with Ibrahim unbeaten on 39 off 27 balls and Atal unbeaten on 12 off 11 balls.
What Lies Ahead.Â
Afghanistan have done well to recover from a shaky powerplay score and finish with 86/2 in 10 overs. Ibrahim Zadran is the key and Atal is with him now. They will aim to get 180+ from here. Canada needs wickets to stem the flow of runs. Let’s see how the rest of the innings pans out from here.
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