Half-centuries by opener Mohammed Shahzad and Shafiullah steered Afghanistan to a convincing seven-wicket victory over Hong Kong in a Group B match to keep alive their hopes of qualifying for the ICC World Twenty20, in Chittagong, on Tuesday.
Hong Kong's Irfan Ahmed and Nadeem Ahmed have been banned from cricket for life for match-fixing and their team mate Haseeb Amjad has been banned for five years.
One of them, spinner Nadeem Ahmed, played against India at last month's Asia Cup
The Asia Cup to be played in Bangladesh from February 24, will be played in the T20 format for the first time in the tournament's history. The tournament which precedes the vital World T20 to be held in in India in March, has a rich history with India and Sri Lanka winning it five times each. Pakistan have been victorious on two occasions while Bangladesh's best finish has been their runner-up performance in the 2012 edition. Team India will be led by MS Dhoni and the tournament will also see Virat Kohli returning after taking a break from the recently concluded three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka. Dhoni will be chasing history to become the most successful skipper in the tournament history. The Indian skipper and former Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga have both recorded same number of nine victories and four defeats in the Asia Cup All the matches will be played at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Mirpur. The qualifying rounds involving Afghanistan, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and Oman has begun from Friday.
Hong Kong overcame a disastrous start to beat Papua New Guinea by 29 runs at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Thursday and secure a historic berth in the ICC World Twenty20 Bangladesh 2014.
Scotland and the United Arab Emirates secured the final two positions in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 after victories on the last day of the Super Six stage of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier New Zealand 2014 (CWCQ), in Christchurch, on Thursday.
Hong Kong notched up a stunning two-wicket victory over Bangladesh in a thrilling qualifying round match but could not prevent the home side from booking a Super 10 berth in the World Twenty20 in Chittagong.
Bangladesh spinners, led by Shakib Al Hasan, guided their side to a thumping nine-wicket win against Afghanistan in their Qualifying Group A match of the ICC World T20 at the Shere Bangla National Stadium on Sunday. Later, Debutants Nepal produced a dominating all-round performance to crush Hong Kong by 80 runs in another qualifying Group A match.
Virat Kohli was unquestionably the top player, but the most valuable player index (MVPI) suggests that Shakib Al Hasan had an equally good World T20 even though his team Bangladesh fared poorly.
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