Afghanistan won their warm-up match against Scotland by 55 runs on Friday, May 31, at the Port of Spain in Trinidad.
Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bat first and scored 178 for 8.
Afghanistan’s all-rounder Gulbadin Naib along with Rahmanullah Gurbaz were sent as the opening batters. Naib scored 20 runs in the second over of the innings, with two fours and two sixes against Brandon McMullen of Scotland. He set the stage on fire by scoring a half-century off just 21 balls.
Additionally, Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zardan tried to score more runs for the team, but were dismissed in the first powerplay.
Gulbadin continued his big shots against Scotland, with 11 boundaries and six massive sixes. Azmatullah Omarzai also scored 48 off 36 balls. However, Naib was dismissed in the 10th over after he drove a ball off Chris Greaves’ straight into the hands of Scotland captain Richie Berrington.
After taking this big wicket, Scotland bowlers continued taking wickets periodically. Mark Watt bagged one wicket by giving 27 runs while Bradley Currie clinched two wickets and gave 26 runs.
The first inning was ended with Rashid Khan, Afghanistan’s captain, making 15 runs for his team.
On the other hand, in the second innings, Afghanistan bowlers did not fail to impress, with Mujeeb ur Rehman and Karim Janat taking two wickets each. While, Naveen ul Haq, Rashid Khan, Nangeyalia Kharote, Azmatullah Omarzai, and Gulbadin Naib taking one wicket each.
Meanwhile, Scotland tried hard to score runs, with George Munsey scoring 28 off 18 deliveries. Mark Watt made 34 off 25 balls. However, the team was defeated by Afghanistan by 55 runs.
Afghanistan will be playing its first T20 World Cup match against Uganda on Tuesday, June 4, while Scotland will play against England in Barbados on the same day.
In the other warm-up match on Friday, May 31, Sri Lanka faced Ireland. Batting first, Sri Lanka gave the target of 169 to the opposite team. However, Ireland failed to chase the target and scored 122 only as they were all out in 18.2 overs. Sri Lanka won the match by 41 runs.
