SCOTLAND were afforded the cruellest lesson by Afghanistan on what is required to compete at the highest level in their opening game of the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup.
Shane Burger’s side had entered the second phase brimming with confidence after first round wins over Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea and Oman.
That quickly dissipated on a hugely disappointing night in Sharjah when their bowlers were smashed all around the park before their batters were left looking foolish by the mastery of the Afghani spinners.
Afghanistan are listed two places below Bangladesh in the T20I world rankings but, unlike that contest a week ago, Scotland simply could not live with their full member superiors and were all out for a pitiful 60 – their lowest ever score - from just 10.2 overs to lose by 130 runs.
In contrast, Afghanistan excelled with both bat and ball. Every batter made an impact, with opener Hazratullah Zazai making 44, Rahmanullah Gurbaz smashing 46 from 37 balls and Najib Zadran top scoring with 59 from 34 deliveries to take the score to 190 for 4.
That left Scotland needing to make their highest-ever T20I score and they never even got close as the wickets tumbled with embarrassing regularity.
None of the middle-order batters – from Calum MacLeod at number 3 to Michael Leask at 6 – scored a run, the first time that has ever happened in this format. To add insult to injury, both MacLeod and Matt Cross fell first ball.
Scotland had no luck with the review process either, three attempts judged to be a borderline “umpire’s call” while the one LBW decision they didn’t contest – Chris Greaves – would have been reversed had he challenged it.
It was a T20 World Cup debut to remember for Mujeeb Ur Rahman who finished with five for 20 from his four overs, including three wickets from just five balls in one over.
The great Rashid Khan didn’t bowl until the seventh over and still came on to take four wickets.
Scotland have to pick themselves up quickly with Namibia waiting for them tomorrow but this was a sore one to take.
“We were really not in the contest this evening,” admitted Burger. “To be fair, we were completely outplayed and credit to them for putting us under huge pressure. We’ll learn a lot from this. We know that we’re better than what we showed this evening.”
The first big decision of the day went against Scotland when Afghanistan won the toss and chose to bat.
After a tight Brad Wheal over that went for just two, captain Kyle Coetzer made the bold call to throw the ball to spinner Michael Leask from the other end - rather than one of the other seamers - and it looked a costly move when Afghanistan smashed him for 18 runs.
The openers looked in the mood to attack everything and Zazai heaved Wheal for a massive maximum that went 101 metres, one of 11 sixes made in their innings.
The 50 came up on the first ball of the sixth over that was slashed for four and at this point there was every chance that Afghanistan could go on to record a total of 200 or more.
Scotland desperately needed to make the breakthrough and it belatedly arrived in the sixth over with Afghanistan on 54.
Mohammad Shahzad (22) tried to take Safyaan Sharif – earning his 150th cap - for one more big heave but didn’t get enough of it and Greaves took the catch in the deep.
Any hope that the dismissal would halt Afghanistan’s momentum, however, would prove misguided as Gurbaz joined Zazai at the crease and the pair simply carried on as before.
Mark Watt and Greaves then came on after the powerplay as Scotland tried desperately to put the brakes on this runaway train.
And it was the Edinburgh man who made the breakthrough by bowling Zazai as he threatened to push on for a half-century to leave Afghanistan on 82/2.
His 44 from 30 balls included three boundaries and another three maximums and Scotland were undoubtedly glad to have seen the back of him.
Zadran was the new man in and he wasn’t long in getting off the mark by taking Greaves over the rope with one hop.
Scotland appealed hopefully for a run out shortly after but replays showed Zadran’s dive had carried him safely into his crease by the time Matt Cross whipped off the bails.
Afghanistan continued to feast off any loose deliveries, Rahmanullah taking Greaves into the stand and then for another boundary as they worked towards a total that took the game away from Scotland.
Every bowler had been taken for a maximum by the time Afghanistan had finished, with Najib particularly effective as he notched up a half-century from just 30 balls.
He was eventually caught by Wheal on the final delivery of the innings but by that point he had made 59 and Scotland looked well up against it.
Afghanistan’s total of 190/4 was their highest-ever in a T2Oi and left their opponents needing to set a record of their own if they were to notch up an unlikely victory.
Watt and Sharif were the only bowlers to come out of it with their reputations just about intact as Scotland were given an indication about the quality required to compete at this level.
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