Afghanistan win a thriller

A thriller at Dunedin saw Afghanistan win in the last over by one wicket against Scotland in the 17th match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.

In a nail-biting finish, Afghanistan registered their first win of the Cricket World Cup by chasing down a smallish total of 210 runs posted by the Scottish batters.

Samiullah Shenwari was the man of the match for Afghanistan as his innings of 96 runs from 147 balls (seven fours, five sixes) took his team to victory after they seemed down and out at 7/97 in the 24th over.

The winning runs came from Shapoor Zadran's bat as he struck a boundary and sent his team and their fans into wild celebration at Dunedin.  

Opener Javed Ahmadi gave his side a descent start with the bat with 51 runs before he was dismissed by Richie Berrington. He struck eight boundaries in his knock.

Afghanistan batsmen except Ahmadi lacked confidence as they pushed and prodded for runs.

Earlier, the Afghan pacers restricted the Scots to only 210 in 50 overs.

Afghan captain Mohammad Nabi won the toss and decided to field. Almost immediately, his fast bowlers vindicated his decision with quick wickets to leave Scotland reeling.

As the Afghan bowlers tightened the screws with disciplined bowling, the Scottish batsmen failed to get going even when the field was up.

Shapoor Zadran was the star performer for Afghanistan as he picked up 4/38 in his ten overs. He was ably supported by his new-ball partner Dawlat Zadran who claimed 3 wickets for only 29 runs in his quota of ten overs.