T20 World Cup: Zadran dedicates his Player of the Match award to departing coach Trott

After receiving his POTM award during the post-match presentation, Zadran said, "I would also like to dedicate this Player of the Match award to our coach, Jonathan Trott. I've learned so much from him - he has encouraged and supported not just me, but the entire team. Under his guidance, we've achieved a lot in international cricket and ICC events. This is his last day with us, and we will truly miss him. I wish him all the very best for the future."

Since taking charge in July 2022, Trott has overseen Afghanistan's rise as a competitive white-ball side. Under his guidance, Afghanistan entered the semi-final in the T20 World Cup 2024 edition.

Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan also paid tribute to the departing coach. "We've had a wonderful time with him (Trott) over the last four, four-and-a-half years. I truly believe he has done so much for Afghanistan cricket, and where we are today, he has played a major role in building and guiding this team. It's quite emotional to see him leave, but that's life; you can't stay together forever. We wish him all the very best, and hopefully we'll see him again around the corner in future events."

Speaking on Afghanistan's campaign, Rashid said they were well prepared and played some unbelievable cricket throughout.

"It's not that we had many bad games. I think the match against South Africa really put us on the back foot and hurt us deeply. We knew we had to win at least one of those first two games to control our fate, but that's how tournaments go. There are plenty of positives to take, and we'll look forward to coming back stronger in the next ICC event."

Coming to the match, Ibrahim Zadran's fantastic knock and a clinical bowling display led by Mohammad Nabi helped Afghanistan outplay Canada in all departments to secure a comprehensive win.

Put into bat, Afghanistan's opening pair once again started well, putting on 47 runs. However, star batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz fell for 30, and Afghanistan slipped to 49/2 in the power play.

Ibrahim Zadran led the Afghanistan rebuild with a gritty half-century, his second successive fifty at the World Cup. His 95-run partnership with Sediqullah Atal (44) gave Afghanistan the perfect platform to launch the final few overs.

Carrying the bat through, Zadran scored his personal best knock of 95 off 56, which is also the highest score by an Afghanistan player in this edition of the World Cup. In a well-paced innings, he struck seven fours and five sixes. Afghanistan posted a challenging score of 200/4 in 20 overs.

For Canada, Jaskarandeep Singh was the most successful bowler and ended with 3/52 in four overs.

Chasing 201, the last match centurion, Yuvraj Samra departed for 17 runs off 14 balls, with three fours by off-spinner Mohammad Nabi.

Captain Dilpreet Bajwa (13) was clean bowled by Mujeeb Ur Rahman, and Navneet Dhailwal departed after a five-ball duck to Azmatullah Omarzai. Canada crawled to 34/3 in six overs.

Wickets continued to fall for Canada after the power play. Mohammad Nabi removed Nicholas Kirton (20) during the eighth over, and wicketkeeper-batter Shreyas Movva (2) was dismissed to Rashid Khan in the next over as Canada reached 48/5 in nine overs.

Saad Bin Zafar (28), Dilon Heyliger (3), Jaskaran Singh (7*) and Ansh Patel (2*) also had forgetfull day as Canada crawled to 118/8 in 20 overs, losing the one-sided contest by 82 runs.

For Afghanistan, Mohammad Nabi (4/7), captain Rashid Khan (2/19), Azmatullah Omarzai (1/18) and Mujeeb Ur Rahman (1/23) were among the wicket takers. (ANI)