Afghanistan Premier League - Nangarhar Leopards vs Kandahar Kings - Review

Nangarhar Leopards won their second encounter of the Afghanistan Premier League as they defeated Kandahar. They won by six wickets and with nine deliveries to spare. It was a convincing effort by Nangarhar as they defeated Kandahar quite convincingly in the end. They were utterly dominant in all the three departments of the game.

It was Kandahar Kings who won the toss and opted to bat. Openers Paul Stirling and Brendon McCullum came out in the middle to start proceedings. Both began in a swift fashion and struck some good shots. However, both fell in quick succession as the team was reduced to 30/2 from 29/0. Mujeeb-ur Rahman and Ben Cutting were the wicket-takers. Two more wickets fell in a matter of minutes as Kandahar was reduced to 46/4.

Nangarhar Leopards outplayed Kandahar Kings 

It was some great bowling by the Nangarhar Leopards which restricted the run flow of Kandahar. Karim Janat and Kevin O’ Brien shared a good partnership to try and get them back on track. However, the loss of O’Brien again put Kandahar on the backfoot. Karim Janat was the top scorer for them with a run a ball 39. Najibullah Zadran also struck a quickfire 17 of 12 deliveries to propel them to 139 in their allotted 20 overs.

The talking point of the innings was the hat-trick of Ben Cutting in the final over of the Kandahar innings. It was a good show of bowling by the all-rounder as he became the first bowler to bag a hat-trick in this season of the Afghanistan Premier League. Chasing the target of 140, Nangarhar began on the attack and scored 46 runs in the first six overs courtesy openers Johnson Charles and Najeeb Tarakai.

Shafiqullah Shafiq played a brilliant knock and raced his way to 35 of just 20 deliveries which were studded with three fours and a couple of sixes. He shared a good partnership with Hashmatullah Shahidi and ensured Kandahar reached the target with utmost ease in the end. Opener Johnson Charles also looked in good touch during his knock of 30 runs in just 24 deliveries.

Brief Scores 

Kandahar Kings 139/9 in 20 overs (Karim Janat 39, Ben Cutting 5/28)

Nangarhar Leopards 142/4 in 18.3 overs (Shafiquallah Shafiq 35*, Karim Sadiq 1/5)

Nangarhar Leopards won by 6 wickets (with 9 deliveries to spare)