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Rashid, Farooqi and Gurbaz the stars as Afghanistan crush New Zealand
Afghanistan boosted their Super Eight chances with yet another dominating win, this time thumping New Zealand by 84 runs in Providence. Having beaten Uganda by 125 runs in their opening match, they are now at the top of Group C with a net run rate of 5.225.
After being sent in, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran gave Afghanistan a start of 103 in 14.3 overs. It came off the back of the 154 the pair added against Uganda, thus making them the first opening pair to register two successive century stands in the history of the T20 World Cup.
Afghanistan’s was an innings of two halves. They scored 55 for no loss in the first ten overs and 104 for 6 in the last ten, with Gurbaz contributing 80 off 56 balls. New Zealand, who had decided not to play any warm-up games, looked every bit rusty as their fielders dropped catches and missed run-out opportunities.
With the pitch assisting both seamers and spinners, chasing 160 was not going to be easy. But few would have expected New Zealand to collapse in the manner they did.
Fazalhaq Farooqi picked up three wickets in the powerplay and Rashid Khan three just after it. Eventually, both ended with identical figures of 4 for 17 as New Zealand were bowled out for 75 in the 15.2 overs. Glenn Phillips and Matt Henry were the only New Zealand batters to reach the double digits.
Trent Boult found some swing in the opening over but Gurbaz and Ibrahim showed their intent by picking up three fours off Henry from the other end. Both batters had luck on their side, too. Gurbaz got a second life when he skipped down the track to Santner and missed the ball, which went on to brush the leg stump but the bails did not budge. In the following over, Finn Allen dropped Ibrahim off Henry at the deep-square-leg boundary.
That was not all. Gurbaz got another reprieve after being involved in a miscommunication with Ibrahim. Having taken off for a single, Gurbaz had to retrace his steps and would have been run out had Conway not fumbled the throw.
Two balls later, New Zealand finally seemed to have found success when Santner pinged Ibrahim’s pads and umpire Kumar Dharmasena ruled it lbw. But the batter got the decision overturned on review as the ball was heading down the leg side. Immediately after that, Ibrahim hit Santner for an inside-out four as Afghanistan ended the powerplay on 44 for no loss.
New Zealand went against the prevailing wisdom of not bowling an offspinner when two right-hand batters at the crease, and Michael Bracewell repaid that faith by conceding only six off his first two overs.
Lockie Ferguson was even more frugal, going for five in his first two. He could have had Ibrahim off a slower full toss but a leaping Kane Williamson failed to pull off a one-handed stunner at mid-off. That meant while Afghanistan remained unscathed, they had only 55 on the board after ten overs.
Afghanistan had not hit a single six in the first ten overs, but there were five in the next three, including three in one Bracewell over as Gurbaz and Bracewell stepped on the accelerator. The pair took the side past 100 in the 14th over. New Zealand finally broke through when Ibrahim bottom-edged a short ball from Henry onto his stumps, after having been hit on the grille on the previous delivery.
Promoted to No. 3, Azmatullah Omarzai played his part with 22 off 13, which included two sixes in three balls off Henry. Mohammad Nabi fell for a first-ball duck but Gurbaz kept finding the boundary at regular intervals. However, a three-wicket, three-run final over by Boult kept Afghanistan to 159.
Farooqi gave Afghanistan a dream start with the ball. With the very first delivery of the innings, he uprooted Finn Allen’s leg stump as the ball moved in late. In the seamer’s next over, Conway pushed at one that seemed to come slower off the surface and was caught at extra cover.
The decision to give Farooqi a third over in the powerplay brought further rewards. This time, bowling around the wicket to Daryl Mitchell, he got a length delivery to just straighten and take the outside edge. Gurbaz took a regulation catch to complete the dismissal and leave New Zealand 28 for 3.
It could have been worse for New Zealand. In between, Naveen-ul-Haq had rapped Kane Williamson’s front pad after the batter had moved across to play a delivery. Afghanistan sent it upstairs for an lbw review but the umpire’s call saved the New Zealand captain.
Afghanistan did not have to wait too long for Williamson’s wicket. Rashid brought himself on after the powerplay and struck straightaway as Williamson guided one to first slip. But Rashid was just warming up. In his next over, he dismissed Mark Chapman and Bracewell off successive deliveries to leave New Zealand on 43 for 6. Chapman went for a pull and got bowled; Bracewell was late to bring his bat down and was lbw.
Phillips was New Zealand’s last hope. He did hit a couple of boundaries but was soon caught at long-on when he tried to take on Nabi. That ended any hopes of revival New Zealand might have had.
Brief scores:
Afghanistan 159 for 6 in 20 overs (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 80, Ibrahim Zadran 44, Azmatullah Omarzai 22; Trent Boult 2-22, Matt Henry 2-37, Lockie Fergusoan 1-28) beat New Zealand 75 in 15.2 overs (Glenn Phillips 18; Rashid Khan 4 for 17, Fazalhaq Farooqi 4 for 17, Mohammad Nabi 2-16) by 84 runs
[Cricinfo]
Mahmudullah has called time on his international career after announcing his retirement from ODIs through a social media post on Wednesday [12th March 2025]. Mahmudullah, who turned 39 last month, had already retired from Tests in 2021 and T20Is in 2024.
“All praises only for the Almighty Allah. I have decided to retire from international cricket,” Mahmudullah wrote on his official Facebook page. “I would like to thank all of my team-mates, coaches and especially my fans who have always supported me. A big thank you to my parents, my in-laws, especially my father in law & most importantly my brother Emdad Ullah, who has been there for me constantly since my childhood as my coach & mentor.”
“And finally, thanks to my wife & kids, who have been my support system through thick & thin. I know Raeid will miss me in red and green jersey. Not everything comes to an end in a perfect way, but you say yes and move forward. Peace, Alhamdulillah. Best wishes to my team & Bangladesh cricket.”
Mahmudullah finishes as Bangladesh’s fourth-highest run-getter, behind Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal, with 5689 runs at an average of 36.46, including four hundreds and 32 fifties. His retirement comes a week after Mushfiqur, his long-time team-mate and brother in law, had also retired from ODIs.
On Monday, when the BCB informed in its press release that Mahmudullah had requested that the board not consider him in the central contracts list after February 2025, it was seen as a sign of impending retirement.
All of Mahmudullah’s centuries came in ICC tournaments. After scoring two hundreds in the 2015 ODI World Cup, he made an unbeaten 102 against New Zealand in the 2017 Champions Trophy in Cardiff. More recently, in the 2023 ODI World Cup in India, he scored 111 against South Africa in Mumbai.
The ODI retirements of Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur come after Bangladesh suffered an early exit in the 2025 Champions Trophy. Mahmudullah played just one innings, managing 4 off 14 balls against New Zealand in Rawalpindi. Mahmudullah’s form in the lead-up to the tournament, though, was excellent: he had scored four ODI fifties in a row, against Afghanistan and West Indies, away from home late last year.
Mahmudullah made his ODI debut in 2007 as a utility player, batting mostly at No. 7 and bowling offspin. His first turning point came in the 2011 World Cup agsinst England, when he added an unbroken 58 for the ninth wicket with Shafiul Islam to guide Bangladesh to a two-wicket win. In the following year, his unbeaten fifties helped Bangladesh to a 3-2 ODI series win against West Indies.
He enjoyed more success in the 2015 World Cup, when he struck centuries against England and New Zealand in successive matches while batting at No. 3. His hundred against New Zealand in the 2017 Champions Trophy, in a 223-run stand with Shakib, is an iconic innings in Bangladesh cricket history.
Mahmudullah made a comeback ahead of the 2023 World Cup after he had been dropped from the side. He also proved his value with the ball, taking 82 wickets at an economy rate of 5.21. Mahmudullah never led Bangladesh in ODIs, though he had captained them in T20Is and Test cricket.
Mahmudullah’s retirement brings the curtain down on Bangladesh’s most successful quintet of cricketers who played between 2006 and 2025 in white-ball cricket.
Apart from Mahmudullah, Tamim reconfirmed his retirement from international cricket earlier this year. Shakib had announced his Test and T20I retirement in India last year, while also informing at the time that the Champions Trophy would be his last ODI assignment. Having missed the tournament due to various reasons, his ODI career now seems finished, too.
Mashrafe Mortaza last played ODIs in 2020, when he also signed off from captaincy. Mushfiqur has retired from ODIs and T20Is, but is in line to become the first Bangladesh cricketer to reach the 100-Test landmark.
[Cricinfo]
Even though both Gujarat Giants and Mumbai Indians come into the eliminator after losing their last league games, Mumbai look a little more wounded. They lost their first home game at Brabourne Stadium in the WPL on Tuesday, they dropped four catches in the game, leaked a lot of runs in the field, and they are playing non-stop cricket at the end of the tournament. The eliminator on Thursday will be their third game in four days after back-to-back matches to start the week and should they make the final, it will be four games in the span of six days for Mumbai.
Giants have no such issues. The margin of their loss to Mumbai on Monday was just nine runs after Bharti Fulmali’s blazing finish, their Indian players are stepping up at the right time to take some of the load off the overseas stars, and their run of three straight wins before heading to Mumbai would have given them bundles of confidence.
Except they have never beaten Mumbai. In these three seasons of WPL, Mumbai boast of a 6-0 record against Giants but going by their last clash, the next contest may not be as lopsided as this stats suggests. One of the factors behind Giants’ rise in the points table was their middle-order batting led by captain Ashleigh Gardner and Deandra Dottin, even if they struggled to find the perfect opening partner for Beth Mooney. Giants have been the slowest starters in the powerplay this WPL (run rate 5.97), but then they pick up fabulously in the middle overs with a scoring rate of 8.81 (better than anyone else), and have been the second-best finishers at the death (10 per over) behind only Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Going by this WPL’s trends, what could possibly decide the match will be Giants’ middle overs, when they will be looking to press the pedal but will be up against the mighty bowling of Mumbai – the best bowling side in that phase. Amelia Kerr, their star bowler in the middle overs, might have leaked plenty of runs on Tuesday, but had all the catches been taken off her bowling her figures might have been different. Her ability to excel under pressure – as was seen in the T20 World Cup last year – could be on display again on Thursday.
Going into the toss, both captains would be relieved to know which way the coin falls might not matter too much: while teams have still been opting to chase, the tide has turned at the end of the league stage with teams batting first winning the last three games. Before that, only two games had been won batting first out of 17.
While Mumbai will be eyeing their second final in three years after losing to RCB in the eliminator last year, the onus is on Giants to not make this year’s final match-up a repeat of what we saw in 2023.
Both teams went unchanged into their last league games but will be concerned about their opening combinations. If Giants haven’t found anyone to partner Mooney, Mumbai’s strategy to promote Kerr to the top hasn’t worked in three attempts.
Gujarat Giants (probable): Beth Mooney (wk), Kashvee Gautam, Harleen Deol, Ashleigh Gardner (capt), Phoebe Lichfield, Deandra Dottin, Bharti Fulmali, Simran Shaikh, Tanuja Kanwar, Meghna Singh, Priya Mishra
Mumbai Indians (probable): Hayley Matthews, Amelia Kerr, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Amanjot Kaur, Yastika Bhatia (wk), G Kamalini, S Sajana, Sanskriti Gupta, Shabnim Ismail, Parunika Sisodia
Armed militants in Pakistan’s Balochistan region have attacked a train carrying more than 400 passengers and taken a number of them hostage, military sources told the BBC on Tuesday.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) fired at the Jaffar Express Train as it travelled from Quetta to Peshawar.
The separatist group said it had bombed the track before storming the train in the remote Sibi district, claiming the train was under its control.
At least 16 militants have been killed and 104 passengers rescued as of Wednesday morning, local media reported.
Among those rescued are 17 injured passengers, who have been hospitalised for treatment.
The militants had threatened to kill hostages if authorities did not release Baloch political prisoners within 48 hours, according to local reports.
The rescue operation is ongoing.
There were reports of “intense firing” at the train, a Balochistan government spokesman told local newspaper Dawn on Tuesday.
A senior police official said it “remains stuck just before a tunnel surrounded by mountains”, AFP news agency reports.
A senior army official confirmed to the BBC that there were more than 100 army personnel travelling from Quetta on the train.
The Pakistani authorities – as well as several Western countries, including the UK and US – have designated the BLA as a terrorist organisation.
It has waged a decades-long insurgency to gain independence and has launched numerous deadly attacks, often targeting police stations, railway lines and highways.
On Tuesday, the group warned of “severe consequences” if an attempt was made to rescue those it is holding.
“I can’t find the words to describe how we managed to escape. It was terrifying,” Muhammad Bilal, one of the freed hostages, told AFP news agency.
Allahditta, another passenger, said he was allowed to go because of his heart condition. The 49-year-old recalled how people “began hiding under the seats in panic” when the attackers stormed the train.
A local railway official in Quetta earlier told the BBC that a group of 80 passengers – 11 children, 26 women and 43 men – had managed to disembark the train and walk to the nearest railway station, Panir.
The official said the group was made up of locals from the province of Balochistan.
One man, whose brother-in-law was still being held on the train, described an agonising wait. He said he had tried to drive to the area, but many of the roads were closed.
Meanwhile, anxious families of passengers were trying to get information about their loved ones from the counter at Quetta railway station.
The son of one passenger, Muhammad Ashraf, who left Quetta for Lahore on Tuesday morning, told BBC Urdu he had not been able to contact his father.
Another relative said he was “frantic with worry” about his cousin and her small child, who were travelling from Quetta to Multan to pick up a family member.
“No one is telling me what’s happening or if they’re safe,” Imran Khan told Reuters news agency.
Officials say they are yet to communicate with anyone on the train.
The area has no internet and mobile network coverage, officials told the BBC.
Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province and the richest in terms of natural resources, but it is the least developed.
[BBC]
Mahmudullah calls time on international career
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