TAROUBA: Fazalhaq Farooqi took three wickets, while Gulbadin Naib scored an unbeaten 49 to guide Afghanistan to victory over Papua New Guinea (PNG) in the 29th match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 here on Thursday.
The seven-wicket victory propelled Afghanistan to the Super 8 stage of the ongoing mega event.
Chasing a meagre 96-run target, Afghanistan failed to get the desired start as they lost both opening batters in 2.5 overs with 22 runs on the board.
Gulbadin Naib knitted a 33-run partnership with Azmatullah Omarzai (13) to stabilize Afghanistan’s innings but Norman Vanua dismissed the latter to break the momentum.
Mohammad Nabi joined Naib and together they raised an unbeaten 46-run partnership to take their side across the line.
Nabi played an anchor role while Naib switched gears to deny any chance of PNG’s comeback as he finished the game with a six.
Naib played an unbeaten knock of 49 runs from 36 balls with the help of six boundaries, including two sixes. Nabi scored 16 off 23.
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For PNG, Vanua, Alei Nao and Semo Kamea picked one wicket each.
Sent into bat first, PNG were bundled out for a meagre 95 in 19.5 overs. Farooqi once again shone with the new ball as picked back-to-back wickets in the third over.
PNG failed to recover from the early blow and kept losing wickets at an alarming rate, slipping to 50-7 in 12.1 overs.
Kiplin Doriga and Alei Nao showed some resistance as they raised 38 runs for the eighth wicket before Noor Ahmed dismissed the former.
Doriga top-scored with a scratchy 27-run knock from 32 balls, featuring two boundaries.
Farooqi returned to dismiss Nao (13), while last-man Semo Kamea got run-out on the penultimate ball as PNG booked for 95.
For Afghanistan, Farooqi claimed figures of 3-16, while Naveen-ul-Haq picked two wickets for four runs.
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