Afghanistan on Saturday romped into the main round of the ICC World T20 after crushing Zimbabwe by a whopping 59 runs in their final Group B qualifying contest, here on Saturday. In a do-or-die match, the Afghans outplayed Zimbabwe in all departments by first scoring a challenging 186/6 in 20 overs and then bowling out opposition for 127 in 19.4 overs. Afghanistan cruised through all their three qualifiers, having won their first two games against Scotland and Hong Kong. Afghanistan are clubbed with England, Sri lanka, West Indies and South Africa for the Super 10 and they will open their campaign against Sri lanka at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on March 17.
The Afghans turned their match against Zimbabwe on its head in the last 10 overs of their innings with Mohammed Nabi (52 off 32 balls) and Samiullah Shenwari (43 off 37 balls) adding 98 runs for the fifth wicket. Nabi’s innings had four boundaries and two sixes while Shenwari hit a six and a four. In the back-10, Afghanistan scored a massive 113 runs after the first 10 overs produced 73 for the loss of four wickets. Opener Mohammed Shahzad also did a great job by going after the bowling.