Arab Gul picked up four wickets on his T20I debut against Japan to propel Afghanistan to a massive win in the Asian Games opener.
Arab Gul, 21, spun a web around Japan’s batters to leave them clueless. He bowled a couple of maiden overs; dismissed Reo Sakurano-Thomas, Ibrahim Takahashi, Charlie Hara-Hinze and Declan Suzuki; and bowled a stunning 19 dot balls in his four overs, keeping a lid on the run-scoring.
With figures of 4-8 in four overs, Gul registered the best figures on debut for Afghanistan in the shortest format of the game. Noor Ahmed held the record earlier with figures of 4-10 in four overs on debut against Zimbabwe in Harare in June 2022.
For the unversed, Gul was also part of the Afghanistan squad in the U19 World Cup 2024, where he picked up four wickets in as many matches at 34.25 and an excellent economy of 3.95.
As for the match, Afghanistan could only score 129-6 after being invited to bat first. Apart from Gul, four others – Faridoon Dawoodzai, Hassan Eisakhil, Ismat Alam and Mohammad Akram – made their T20I debuts for Afghanistan.
Akram was impressive on debut, top-scoring for his team. He scored 34 off 29 balls while opening the innings and smashed two fours and as many sixes. Afghanistan skipper Darwish Rasooli also played a vital hand with a 27-ball 29, while Mohammad Ishaq hit an unbeaten 25 off 17.
In the run-chase, Japan were in the hunt until the eighth over when they were 53-2 but lost their way completely once the Afghan spinners taking over. Nangeyalia Kharote and Arab shared seven wickets between them for just 27 runs in 7.3 overs to skittle the hosts for only 81 runs.
Afghanistan’s 48-run win in their first group game has more or less sealed their position in the quarter-final. They will face Nepal in the second group game on Friday. Oman, Hong Kong and Malaysia comprise the other group. Malaysia defeated Hong Kong in the second game today, chasing 82.
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