Watch: Mohammad Shahzad takes blinder in T20 World Cup encounter against Scotland

Afghanistan wicket-keeper Mohammad Shahzad produced a one-handed stunner to dismiss Scotland’s Matthew Cross. He took this catch in the ongoing Super 12 stage at the ICC T20 World Cup in Sharjah.

The incident took place in the fifth over of the match when Cross edged one which was flying to the third-man boundary. The ball pitched outside off-stump and the batter just poked at the ball. It found the outside edge of the Scotland batsman and Mohammad Shahzad flew to his right to pull off a hell of a catch.

MOHAMMAD SHAHZAD WITH A BEAUTY!

The veteran cricketer showed great reflex to catch the ball with one hand. Mohammad Shahzad dived full length to his right and plucked it with one hand. Mohammad Shahzad was certainly elated with the catch as he celebrated with his arms aloft as his Afghanistan teammates crowded him.

yoo Shahzad that’s how you do it! Afghanistan on a roll here!?

What a turnaround for the Sharjah Pitch tho! #AFGvSCO #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/wmMSzr57MK

— Navya Gupta (@guptanavya201) October 25, 2021

Scotland skipper Kyle Coetzar and George Munsey got their side off to a flying start in the run chase before Mujeeb-ur-Rahman arrived into the bowling attack. He picked up three wickets in an over to take Scotland from 27/0 to 28/3. That was a huge turning point in the match after Afghanistan put a mammoth total of 190 in their 20 overs.

Since the collapse of the top order, Scotland couldn’t make a comeback as Mujeeb completed his five-wicket haul while Rashid Khan chipped in with four wickets to run riot. In the end, Afghanistan bowled the Scotts for just 60 and won their first match in the 2021 T20 World Cup by 130 runs. This will do very well for the Afghans as their run rate hit +6.500. As the tournament goes deep, things get very tight and the run rate can be a huge factor in deciding the qualification places.

Earlier, Afghanistan rode on to a brilliant show from their batters to post 190 runs on the board. The Afghanistan batters showed exactly how good they were on the day as every single batter got to a decent score. Opener Hazratullah Zazai played a fine knock as he scored 44 runs off 30 deliveries. His opening partner Mohammad Shahzad also played a decent knock, making 22 runs off 15 deliveries. There was a massive middle-order partnership as well between Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Najibullah Zadran. Zadran scored an impressive half-century, making 59 runs in just 34 balls. Gurbaz just missed out on his 50 but he made 46 runs off 37 deliveries. Skipper Mohammad Nabi played a cameo as he made an unbeaten 11 runs off four deliveries.

Scotland will face Namibia in two days’ time while Afghanistan take on Pakistan on October 29^th which be a crucial game in Group 2.