The Afghan openers found themselves in hot water against the pacers’ barrage of hostile deliveries. Gurbaz and Zadran weathered the storm, though, gritting their teeth through a tense powerplay. They had several plays and misses. However, their cautious approach may not have set the scoreboard alight, but it kept their wickets intact which surely was a psychological win for the two Afghan openers. They displayed excellent running between the wickets, converting singles into doubles with sharp judgment and compensated for the scarcity of boundaries. This resilience, however, was short-lived. Ibrahim Zadran fell trying to accelerate, with Omarzai following soon after a brief stay. Rahmanullah Gurbaz fought hard with his 43 before departing, and when Naib and Nabi fell in quick succession, Afghanistan’s innings began to dent rapidly. Rashid Khan after a dramatic final over came in clutch and struck and thanks to his cameo of 19 off just 10 deliveries, Afghanistan managed to post 115.