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Afghanistan storm into Super 10s after crushing Zimbabwe

Afghanistan continued their dominant run in the qualifying stages of the T20 World Cup by beating Zimbabwe by 59 runs in the deciding match and storming into the Super 10s in Nagpur on Saturday.

Australian Captain Steve Smith is confident of winning the T20 World Cup.
Australian Captain Steve Smith is confident of winning the T20 World Cup. REUTERS/Hamish Blair
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Batting first, Afghanistan posted a challenging total of 186 runs in 20 overs thanks to a quickfire half century by Mohammad Nabi and useful knocks by Samiullah Shanwari who scored 43 as well as a 23 ball 40 by the opening batsman Mohammad Shahzad.

Despite the blazing start by Shahzad, Afghanistan were struggling at 63 for four. However, a 98 run partnership between Nabi and Shanwari helped them post a daunting target to Zimbabwe.

Afghanistan’s impressive batting display seemed to have demoralised the Zimbabwe batsman as they failed to put up any resistance.

Their disappointing performance could be gauged by the fact that the No 10 batsman Tinashe Panyangara was their top-scorer with 17 runs.

Incisive bowling by leg spinner Rashid Khan, who took three wickets, and medium-pacer Hamid Hassan, who claimed two, restricted the Zimbabweans to just 126 runs.

Afghanistan will now face defending champions Sri Lanka, South Africa, England and West Indies in Group 1 of the Super 10s.

Meanwhile, Australian captain Steve Smith said the one day international world champions and top ranked Test team is determined to break their World T20 title drought.

Smith said that his team's vast experience of playing in the Indian Premier League would give them a definite edge.

Australia have never won the championship in the shortest format of the game with their best performance coming in 2010 when they lost to England in the final.

“Traditionally we haven't done as well as we would have liked in this format of the game. This is a tournament that has eluded us so we are here to try and win it,” Smith said.

The 26-year-old Smith, who leads Australia in all three formats, said his team will be banking on allrounders who have recently performed well.

Australia re riding high on confidence following their 2-1 T20 series win against South Africa, one of the favourites to win the World Cup.

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