Images from the T20 World Cup Super 12s match between Afghanistan and Namibia, in Abu Dhabi, on Sunday.
Pacers Hamid Hassan and Naveen-ul-Haq shared six wickets between them in impressive bowling spells as Afghanistan trounced Namibia by 62 runs in their Super 12 match of the T20 World Cup, in Abu Dhabi, on Sunday.
Opting to bat, Afghanistan posted 160 for 5 thanks to handy contributions from Hazratullah Zazai (33), Mohammad Shahzad (45), Asghar Afghan (31) -- who played his last international match -- and Mohammad Nabi (32 not out).
With the ball, the Afghans restricted Namibia to 98 for 9 to register their second win in the tournament.
Chasing 161, Namibia lost three wickets inside the Powerplay and could never recover from there.
Naveen-ul-Haq (3-26) dismissed Craig Williams (1) and Michael van Lingen (11) early in a spell of 2 for 2 and then added another wicket later on.
Hamid Hassan (3 for 9 from four overs) tormented the Namibia middle-order as he got the wickets of captain Gerhard Erasmus (12), top-scorer David Wiese (26) and JJ Smit (0).
Namibia were 29 for 3 in 5.2 overs, with Gulbadin Naib (2 for 19) chipping in with the wicket of Jan Loftie-Eaton (11).
Star spinner Rashid Khan (1 for 14 from four overs), who was introduced in the eighth over, got Zane Green out for 1 with his first delivery of the day as Namibia found themselves tottering.
Green missed the ball completely and was cleaned up.
The asking rate kept rising as Namibia needed 106 from the back end of their innings. Having lost four wickets, their woes continued as captain Erasmus was out in the 11th over when a yorker from Hassan crashed on to his leg stump.
Namibia were 56 for 5 and the match was as good as over by then but an unrelenting Hassan got his second wicket in the form of Smit three balls later.
Earlier, Afghan played a nice little cameo to score 31 off 23 balls in his farewell game as Afghanistan posted 160 for 5.
Afghanistan made a strong start, putting up 50 without loss by the end of the Powerplay, as the opening pair of Hazratullah Zazai (33) and Mohammad Shahzad (45) shared a 53-run stand in 6.4 overs, after opting to bat.
But they frittered away the advantage, as wickets fell at regular intervals thereafter and there was no substantial partnership.
Thanks to Afghan, they recovered a bit towards the end, scoring 51 from the last five overs.
The 33-year-old right-handed batter, who was earlier known as Asghar Stanikzai, has played six Tests, 114 ODIs and 75 T20Is after making debut in 2009.
In his last game for the country, he provided good support to current captain Mohammad Nabi (32 off 17 balls) and their quick-fire 35-run stand took the team's total past the 150-run mark.
Zazai was the more aggressive of the opening duo. He began with a six and four in the opening over, bowled by Ruben Trumpelmann, and then added three more boundaries and another maximum in the Powerplay.
But just as he was looking ominous, he was out in the seventh over as he holed out to deep square leg fielder off JJ Smit.
One-down Rahmanullah Gurbaz did not last long; he was out for 4 in the 10th over, trapped leg before off the bowling of Jan Loftie-Eaton.
The run-rate dropped as Afghanistan reached to 69 for 2 at the halfway mark.
After a relative lull, set opener Shahzad opened up, hitting a four and six in the 11th and 12th overs, before being dismissed in the 13th over after top-edging Trumpelmann for Bernard Scholtz to take a simple catch.
He hit three fours and two sixes during his 45-run knock.
Afghanistan took 13 runs from the 15th over, bowled by Jan Frylinck, Afghan clobbering the bowler for a six. But they lost the momentum again as Najibullah Zadran (7) was out at the other end.
Afghan was out in the penultimate over, caught by Michael van Lingen at backward point off Trumpelmann. He hit three fours and one six.
Several Namibia players shook hands with Afghan as he walked off the ground to a loud applause.
For Namibia, Loftie-Eaton and Trumpelmann took two wickets each.
