Cricket Highlights, 04 Nov: ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 (Match 34) – Netherlands vs Afghanistan: The Afghans kept their hopes of the semi-finals alive by defeating the Netherlands.

Netherlands vs Afghanistan (Match 34) – Highlights

The match was very important for both teams to keep their semi-final hopes alive. Afghanistan did not give any chance to the Netherlands on Friday (November 3) in such a battle. Hashmatullah Shahidi‘s team took a step forward in the points table by easily defeating the Dutch.

Afghanistan defeated the Netherlands by 7 wickets in the 34th match of the group stage at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium in Lucknow. Batting at the beginning, the Netherlands were bowled out for 179 runs. Chasing a small target, the Afghans reached the target with 111 balls in hand.

With this victory, Afghanistan has climbed to the fifth position of the points table by surpassing Pakistan. Their points are now 8 in 7 matches. If they win the remaining two matches, Rashid Khan-Mohammad Nabi & and the team will have a good hope of reaching the semi-finals. On the other hand, the Netherlands, who have won two out of seven matches, are in eighth place in the table. Their chances of reaching the semi-finals are almost over for them.

Although the target was small, the Afghans did not get off to a good start. They lost the wicket of Rahmanullah Gurbaz by 27 runs. Gurbaz, who scored 10 runs, took a catch behind the wicket while trying to pull a length delivery from Logan van Beek.

Another opener, Ibrahim Zadran, could not settle down for long. He was bowled by Roelof van der Merwe. Ibrahim, who scored 20 runs, was bowled finding an inside edge on a flighted delivery. Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah added 74 runs for the third wicket.

Afghanistan’s path to victory became easier in this pair. Rahmat scored a half-century and was dismissed for 52 runs. Saqib Zulfiqar sent him back caught and bowled. The experienced Afghan batsman was confused by the Dutch spinner’s tossed-up delivery and gave away the catch to the bowler. Hashmatullah and Azmatullah Omarzai confirmed Afghanistan’s victory after playing the rest of the time with caution.

Earlier, after winning the toss, Netherlands lost Wesley Barresi (1) in the first over. But for the second wicket, Max ODowd and Colin Ackermann made a great partnership of 70 runs. After the Powerplay, the collection of the Dutch stood at 66 runs. But then disaster started.

Max ODowd, who scored 42 runs, got out by Azmatullah’s brilliant throw. Ackermann (29) was also run out due to a misunderstanding. Scott Edwards also made a mistake on the first ball. He missed a slower ball trying to play it towards fine leg off Nabi, but the skipper came out of the crease with no idea where the ball had gone. Ikram Alikhil quickly picked up the ball and made him run out.

Bas de Leede and Zulfiqar returned with caught behind. De Leede (3) was returned by Nabi, and Zulfiqar (3) was returned by Noor Ahmad. Van Beek (2) got out while playing a big shot. Sybrand Engelbrecht, fighting alone from one end, scored a personal fifty.

Engelbrecht also returned after being run out after scoring 58 runs off 86 balls. Van der Merwe and Aryan Dutt added some runs at the end, but the Dutch had to stop at 179 with 21 balls left in the innings.

For the Afghans, Mohammad Nabi took the maximum number of 3 wickets with 28 runs in 9.3 overs with a maiden. As a result, he was also selected as the player of the match. Apart from this, Noor Ahmad took 2 wickets and Mujeeb Ur Rahman took 1 wicket.

Netherlands vs Afghanistan Scoreboard

Netherlands – 179/10 (46.3)

Afghanistan – 181/3 (31.3)

Result – Afghanistan won by 7 wickets

Player of the match – Mohammad Nabi

Mohammad Nabi