Seamers Naveen-ul-Haq and Hamid Hassan have taken three wickets apiece to help Afghanistan crush Namibia by 62 runs to keep their hopes of progressing to the Twenty20 World Cup semi-finals alive.
Naveen-ul-Haq did the early damage with the new ball to derail Namibia's chase, while Hassan ran through the middle order, as their opponents could only muster 98/9 in reply to Afghanistan's 160/5.
Seamer Gulbadin Naib also picked up 2/19 in an inspired medium-pace bowling performance from the Asian side.
With their second Super 12 win, the Afghans stayed second in Group 2 behind Pakistan, who have won all three of their matches. The Blackcaps are currently third.
Afghanistan have two tough games in hand against New Zealand and India, and suffered a nail-biting loss to Pakistan by five wickets
Naveen-ul-Haq has dedicated his player-of-the-match award to former captain Asghar Afghan, who retired from international cricket after Monday's victory.
"I made my debut under his captaincy, so I want to dedicate it to him," says the 22-year-old.
Earlier, Hazratullah Zazai and Mohammad Shahzad gave Afghanistan a solid start with a 53-run opening stand, after captain Mohammad Nabi won the toss and opted to bat.
Afghan, who was given a guard of honour by Namibia's players as he walked on to bat in his final appearance, kept the scoreboard ticking, after Shahzad had been dismissed for 45 off 33 balls.
The former captain's final innings was a useful 31 off 23 balls and he combined in a handy stand with current skipper Nabi to help Afghanistan lift their scoring rate in the final overs.
An emotional Afghan was given another guard of honour by his teammates as he walked off, after getting out caught at short third man, while trying a reverse scoop shot off Ruben Trumpelmann.
Nabi remained unbeaten on 32 off 17 balls.
Reuters.
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