Afghanistan v Netherlands - http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 Intercontinental Cup – 3rd Day’s Update
Netherlands 133 & 228 v Afghanistan 129 & 233/7 (76.0 ov) - Afghanistan won by 3 wickets
Afghanistan wrapped up their ICC Intercontinental Cup, four-day match in three days after beating their opponents http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Netherlands-c753 at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on April 04, 2012.
Afghanistan pulled off a remarkable win and just when everyone thought they were out and done in the contest, they bounced back and proved that they were a team to reckon with and have the potential to take down any team on a given day irrespective of the circumstances.
With six wickets down and 122 runs required to win the game, no one had expected the Dutch to lose from that point as Afghanishttp://www.senore.com/Cricket/Thomas-George-Burrows-c93472an were clearly in the losing path while Netherlands couldn’t have asked for a better way to end the second day of play.
With odds completely against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Afghanistan-c745, they still managed to prevail thanks to the unbeaten knock of 84 runs from wicketkeeper/batsman Afsar Zazai. Had it not been for him, Afghanistan would not have managed to avert an imminent defeat.
Nonetheless, while the Afghans batted splendidly, the Dutch faltered in the bowling department on a day where negligence could not have been tolerated.
With a day to go and half of the batting side back in the pavilion, it was a perfect scenario for any fielding side and the bowlers should never have let the batting side make a comeback.
Nonetheless, Netherlands exhibited weakness in the bowling which ultimately cost them the game.
Earlier, Afghanistan started the day’s play with Zazai and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Nabi-c77111, and both men crafted a resilient comeback in the match.
This was Afghanistan’s final stand against the Dutch and had this pair faltered early on, Netherlands would have grabbed an easy win.
While, Zazai was the star of the show, he was provided a well deserved support by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Nabi-c78373 without which Zazai would not have prospered.
With the job still unfinished Nabi lost his wicket after scoring 25 runs, leaving his side on a tally of 187.
Things could not have become more complicated than this as Netherlands were just a wicket away from victory as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Samiullah-Shenwari-c2430, the last man for Afghanistan walked in with the pressure of the world on him.
The batsman knew he needed to stay on the wicket till the end to see his team win the contest and that is exactly what he did as he smacked an unbeaten knock of 20 runs to help his team achieve the impossible.
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