On a night when Afghanistan batsmen rained sixes in Sharjah, their off-spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman owned the stage, the match and the night. Mujeeb bamboozled the Scotland batsmen with guile and craft as he made his T20 World Cup debut unforgettable with figures of 5 for 20.
The result: Scotland, chasing Afghanistan's 190/3, were bundled out for 60 in 10.2 overs handing their opponents a massive 130-run victory. The win took Afghanistan's winning streak at the venue to 17.
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Scotland began to unravel in the fourth over when skipper Kyle Coetzer lost his stumps to a wrong 'un from Mujeeb and the next delivery was a similar one and an indecisive MacLeod, looked to play it on the leg side but took the ball on the pads to be adjudged leg before wicket. The youngster missed a hat-trick but finished the over with three wickets with Richie Berrington becoming his third wicket.
Not to be left behind, seasoned spin whiz Rashid Khan (4/9) was brought into the attack and he didn't waste much time in mopping up the tail.
Scotland found it tough against spin and were hopping all over the place with five of the batsmen walking back for a duck. The contest between the Scottish batsmen and Afghan spinners was as mismatched as apples and oranges.
Adding substance to an Afghanistan innings has been one of the key contributions of left-hand batsman Najibullah Zadran's nine-year international cricket career.
On Monday, the 28-year-old lived up to his reputation. But he wasn't the lone star of the Afghan batting unit. With four of the five batsmen who occupied the crease, belting at least one maximum, the Afghans posted their highest T20 score in a World Cup.
