Afghanistan wicket-keeper batsman Mohammad Shahzad continued his fine form with the bat in the UAE as he kicked off proceedings in the inaugural Afghanistan Premier League with a fifty in Sharjah on Friday night.
Captaining the Paktia Panthers, opener Shahzad smashed 67 from just 39 balls against Kabul Zwanan in the tournament opener to help his team post a mammoth 218-4 in their 20 overs. Shahzad starred in a 101-run stand for the opening wicket with Ihsanullah inside 10 overs before he was bowled by Zahir Shehzad.
The burly cricketer also affected a stumping during Kabul’s chase to extend his excellent form.
Paktia Panthers set a target of 219 runs for Kabul Zwanan in the first match of Gulbahar @APLT20official .@SRazaB24 top-scored with 78 runs while @MShahzad077 and @Cam12Delport contributed with 67 and 19 runs respectively. #APLT20 #GAPLT20 #WeyarDaAfghanano pic.twitter.com/pHc6GMAJMT
— Afghan Cricket Board (@ACBofficials) October 5, 2018
Shahzad was one of the star performers for a highly impressive Afghanistan outfit during the recently concluded Asia Cup. He opened the batting and kept wicket, impressing throughout as his lowest score was 20.
Shahzad got better as the tournament wore on and saved his best for the final two matches. He hit a fine 53 in a must-win Super Four match against Bangladesh but still ended up on the losing side as the Afghans fell out of the race to the final.
Then in their final match of the tournament against India, he cracked a superlative 124 from 116 match in a low-scoring game that ended in a thrilling tie.
