BENGALURU: Darvish Rasooli’s blistering half-century and a combined bowling effort helped Afghanistan thrash Scotland by 61 runs in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 practice match at the BCCI Center of Excellence Stadium 1 on Monday.
Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan’s decision to bat first paid off as his team amassed a massive total of 184/6 in 20 overs.
The Asian side, however, had a mixed start to their innings as they lost Sedikulla Atal (6) and Gulbadin Naib (3) after being bowled out for just 20 runs in four overs.
Following an early setback, Rasooli joined Ibrahim Sadran in the middle and the duo turned the game around with an 82-run partnership for the third wicket, with Brad Currie dismissing the latter in the 13th over.
Chadran scored 36 off 32 balls with 2 fours and a six.
Rasooli put on a one-sided 27-run partnership with Asmatullah Umarzai (three) for the fourth wicket before making 32 with Mohammad Nabi, who scored 34 off 16 balls with 2 sixes and several fours.
The middle-order batsman went on to top score with 84 off 46 balls with 7 fours and 5 sixes and was adjudged man of the match.
For Scotland, Mark Watt and Jack Jarvis took 2 wickets each and Currie took one wicket.
Chasing a tough target of 185 runs, Scotland’s batting unit could be bowled out for 123 runs in 19.3 overs.
Wicketkeeper batsman Matthew Cross and opener Michael Jones top-scored for Scotland with 21 runs each, while Brandon McMullan (20), Watt (15) and George Munsey (13) scored double figures.
Afghanistan’s bowling led Umarzai with three wickets, Ziaur Rahman and Nabi with two wickets each and Gulbadin Naib, Mujeeb ur Rahman and Rashid with one each.