(Cricket news) Afghanistan had their bowlers leading in form as they won the first ODI match against Netherlands at Qatar. Netherlands had won the toss and chose to bowl first and the batters from both teams had very little to celebrate but it was Afghanistan who made sure to get a good start to the three match ODI series.

Vivian Kingma provided the first break when wicketkeeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz had an unlucky start to the innings as his bat edged the ball to the stumps in the third over. Usman Ghani and Rahmat Shah brought some peace to the side as they handled the crisis well and even after Ghani’s departure there was no instability in the batting line up. Captain Hashmatullah Shahidi and Rahmat only made things better as the Netherlands bowlers kept mixing up their bowling line up.

Colin Ackermann gave the team a reason to celebrate after a long break as he turned the ball back into Rahmat as it was just the captain standing. That was the case as Afghanistan could only score 81 runs in the last 14 overs in which the captain had scored most of them as the lower order collapsed without making much difference to the scoreboard.

It was the turn for the lower order to make it up for the team. Netherlands had a defensive start as their first wicket fell in the 8th over as opener Musa Ahmed hit one straight to Yamin Ahmadzai. Wicketkeeper Scott Edwards registered his highest score of 68 and his second half century. It was an effort that went in vain as only captain Pieter Seelaar provided him company while the rest could not handle Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman’s spin attack.

Mujeeb took the wicket of Edwards in the 31st over and it was the red signal for the Netherlands team. In the next 17 overs, the team scored 60 runs and lost 6 wickets. Spinner Sharafuddin Ashraf was the most economical bowler for Afghanistan as he gave away 23 runs in 9 overs. It was again the spin attack which helped Afghanistan defend a target of 223 as Netherlands could not get past 200.

The first match has been a low scoring contest and the Netherlands are in a must win situation in the next match. Afghanistan will have to get more runs on board as the spinners did a great job of restricting the batters as well as getting the wickets. Shahidi excelled in his first match as captain with the bat and did lead the team towards victory.

Afghanistan: 222/8 in 50 overs

Netherlands: 180/10 in 48 overs

Player of the match: Hashmatullah Shahidi (73 off 94 balls, 4×4 and 6×2)

Also read: Wounded India look to avoid whitewash in 3rd ODI at Cape Town