New Delhi, Feb 16 (IANS) Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan expressed relief after his team registered its first win of the T20 World Cup through a five-wicket victory over the United Arab Emirates in a Group D clash at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, adding that he now hopes for the best for his team’s future in the competition.

Seam-bowling all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai claimed 4-15 to help Afghanistan restrict UAE to 160/9 before returning with an unbeaten 40 off 21 balls to steer the side home in the chase with four balls to spare. Ibrahim Zadran contributed with a composed 53, while UAE’s Sohaib Khan top‑scored with 68 in a losing effort.

“Happy to finish up with the win; it’s always important to have a win at the World Cup and let’s hope for the best in the rest of the competition. We bowled really well in the last 10 overs, we missed our lines earlier and they played well. In the first 10 overs, we didn’t bowl as well as we should have. Need to improve in the first 10 overs and be more consistent,” Rashid said in the post-match presentation ceremony.

He also praised Zadran’s aggressive approach despite the early dismissal of Rahmanullah Gurbaz. “We all know how aggressive he (Gurbaz) is; I feel like that’s how he scores runs, to go with an aggressive mindset and dominate in the powerplay. It does work and sometimes (it doesn’t). It’s always important for players like Gurbaz to remain there longer (because) it helps the team.”

Rashid noted the value of experience in the squad, mentioning Mohammad Nabi, Omarzai and Mujeeb Ur Rahman. “Still have a little bit of hope we can make it to the next stage and we just need to come up with a positive mindset. Even if we don’t make it to the next round, we want to play with the same brand of cricket and make our nation proud.”

Player of the Match Omarzai said his plan was simple on a pitch which had a bit of moisture. “I am very happy with my performance. The wicket was a bit low, I was trying to bowl the hard length and I got the success. I just looked at the scoreboard and I knew we had many balls left, wanted to rotate strike and focus on playing straight and wait for the poor deliveries and that approach helped while being out with Darwaish. Hope to replicate the same performance in the next game.”

UAE captain Muhammad Waseem admitted his side fell short by 10-15 runs with the bat. “It was a very good game, boys fought well. We were 15 runs short, we gave two or three extra boundary balls and that cost us the game. We lost two early wickets but after that, the way Alishan and Sohaib batted, they played good knocks.

“Felt we were 10-15 runs short, and they got out at the wrong time. We were trying to fight till the last ball. We are hungry for the victory; fielding was excellent and I am happy with the effort. Last game… again, it’s a different opposition (against South Africa); we will come with different plans, we will show our talent to the world.”

–IANS

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