{"id":23817,"date":"2026-02-16T10:13:54","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T08:13:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/afghanistan-records-first-win-in-icc-mens-t20-world-cup\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:34:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:34:34","slug":"afghanistan-records-first-win-in-icc-mens-t20-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/afghanistan-records-first-win-in-icc-mens-t20-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Afghanistan records first win in ICC Men&#8217;s\u00a0T20\u00a0World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\" aria-hidden=\"true\" data-olk-copy-source=\"MessageBody\"><span style=\"background-color: var(--global--color-background); color: var(--global--color-primary); font-family: var(--global--font-secondary); font-size: var(--global--font-size-base);\">Afghanistan, regarded by some as semifinal contenders, have recorded their first win in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men&#8217;s T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\"><span style=\"background-color: var(--global--color-background); color: var(--global--color-primary); font-family: var(--global--font-secondary); font-size: var(--global--font-size-base);\">They narrowly beat the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by five wickets in New Delhi to keep alive their slim hopes of qualifying for the Super Eight stage of the tournament.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\"><span class=\"x_elementtoproof\">Afghanistan won the toss and took the first two UAE wickets in the first two overs.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\"><span class=\"x_elementtoproof\">But an 84-run third wicket partnership followed between Alsihan Sharafu and Shoaib Khan.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\"><span class=\"x_elementtoproof\">Khan top-scored with 68 off 48 deliveries as the UAE posted 160 for the loss of nine wickets in their 20 overs.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\"><span class=\"x_elementtoproof\">Afghanistan was calculated in reply, Ibrahim Zadran scored a fine 53 at the top of the order, while there were also telling contributions further down.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\"><span class=\"x_elementtoproof\">Darwish Rasooli made 33 and Azmatullah Omarzai an unbeaten 40. He hit the winning runs with four balls to spare and just five wickets down.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\"><span class=\"x_elementtoproof\">Afghanistan next play Canada on Thursday, while the UAE take on Group D leaders, South Africa, in Delhi on Wednesday.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\"><span class=\"x_elementtoproof\">Both these matches could of academic interest only for Afghanistan and the UAE if New Zealand beat Canada in Chennai on Tuesday, to guarantee their spot in the Super Eight.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\"><span style=\"background-color: var(--global--color-background); color: var(--global--color-primary); font-family: var(--global--font-secondary); font-size: var(--global--font-size-base);\">&#8211;SABC&#8211;<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":22148,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-23817","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":null,"news_description":"International Cricket Council Men's T20 World Cup","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26670,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/23817\/revisions\/26670"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=23817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}