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Fazalhaq Farooqi (Source-ICC)
Afghanistan’s left-arm fast bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi was at this dangerous best as he got two wickets in two balls in the very first over of the Uganda innings. Chasing 184 to win, Uganda were reeling having lost half their side as the Afghan bowlers showed their experience over the debutants.
Early in the day, Afghanistan score 183 runs from their stipulated overs as Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran struck crucial half-centuries. After the fall of the opening batters the Uganda bowlers came back strong and gave away just 27 runs from 30 balls to peg back Rashid Khan’s side.
Group C has already seen one match being played with West Indies defeating a spirited Papua New Guinea side to take their first points of the campaign. New Zealand who are the last remaining side in the group are yet to play their first match of the campaign.
Fazalhaq Farooqi rips Uganda batting apart
Needing 184 runs to win the match, Uganda opened with Ronak Patel and Simon Ssesazi. After seeing out the first ball, Ronak Patel got a beautiful ball which came back into him. The batter had no clue as the ball swung in with rapid pace and disturbed his stumps.
The very next ball, Roger Mukasa got a full ball which hit him on his foot and the Afghan players went up in huge appeal. The umpire didn’t hesitate as he gave the decision in favor of the bowling side. Roger Mukasa didn’t even bother with a review and later the replays showed that he was plumb LBW.
Mujeeb Ur Rahman got the third wicket when Simon Ssesazi went for a sweep only to be caught by Fazalhaq Farooqi for 4. At that stage Uganda were 3 down for 8 runs inside the first two overs of the game.
Dinesh Nakrani tried to force the pace of the innings with a brilliant boundary. Naveen-ul-Haq though beat him for pace and castled the batter for 6 runs. Two balls later Alpesh Ramjani was out for a 2 ball duck as he was caught by Gulbadin Naib. Uganda were staring down the barrel as he they were reduced to 18/5 inside five overs.
At the time of writing the Men in Yellow were 38 for 5 from 10 overs with Robinson Obuya batting on 13 from 19 balls with one six. Riazat Ali Shah was struggling to get going as he was not out on 9 runs from 24 balls.