Records tumbled on Monday during the ICC T20 World Cup clash between Afghanistan and Scotland at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Touted as the underdogs of the tournament, Afghanistan began their campaign by spinning a web around new entrants Scotland with a record 130-run win in their Super 12 match. It was Afghan spinners Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Rashid Khan, who stole the show as they bundled out Scotland for 60 in 10.2 overs after Afghanistan posted 190 on the board.
Player of the Match, Mujeeb picked up five wickets for just 20 runs in his quota of four overs. The star of the Monday game missed his hat-trick. After picking three wickets in an over, he returned to pick two more wickets to become the first bowler to pick up a five-wicket haul on his T20 World Cup debut.
Bamboozling the Scottish batters with his variations, Mujeeb also became the third spinner after Sri Lanka’s Ajantha Mendis and Rangana Herath to achieve this feat and only the eighth bowler in the history of the event to do so.
The 20-year-old also joined Indian star spinner Ravichandran Ashwin to become the second spinner to pick four wickets in the powerplay overs.
Speaking about his match-winning performance, the Afghan spinner said, “Very happy that we won our first match. This is my first World Cup game and I won the Man of the Match. The fans bring in a lot of energy and that’s why we played positive cricket tonight.”
Afghanistan are placed in Group 2 and will next play their neighbours Pakistan on Friday in Dubai.
