Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi was elated after his team decimated Scotland in their first match of the T20 World Cup 2021 Super 12s round. Afghanistan won their first match by 130 runs bowling Scotland out for 60 after putting on 190/4 batting first in Sharjah.
Najibullah Zadran made 59, Hazratullah Zazai made 44, and Rahmanullah Gurbaz made 46 for Afghanistan as Scotland bowlers bled runs at a furious pace. In reply, Mujeeb Ur Rahman’s 5/20 and Rashid Khan’s 4/9 were enough for Scotland to be bowled out in 10.2 overs.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Nabi was at his funniest best as he readied for the pre-match presser in front of the journalists as he was heard asking the media manager how long the presser will go on. After hearing the time, Nabi funnily quipped, “5 minute mein meri English khatam ho jayegi (in 5 minutes all of my English will finish).”
Here is the video:
Speaking during the post-match presentation ceremony, Nabi was proud of the way his spinners Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Rashid Khan performed as five of the Scotland batters made ducks.
"The world knows we have some good spinners in the form of Rashid and Mujeeb, they've played everywhere in the world. We have a very good team combination. When we play the local tournaments, I, Mujeeb and Rashid are the most expensive bowlers. Mujeeb is playing his first T20 World Cup match and he got the Player of the Match award, that's good to see, it's fantastic,” Nabi told the host broadcaster Star Sports after the match.
Nabi said Afghanistan's aim was to put on a big total on board and he was glad the team executed things as per the plan.
"It's important to win at the start of the tournament. This was our plan, to bat first and post a big total. Both the openers started well, we finished the powerplay on a good note. The running between the wickets was good, we rotated the strike really well and Najib played well to help as post such a big total," he added.
Afghanistan is next slated to play neighbors Pakistan on Friday.
(ANI inputs)
