ABU DHABI: Afghanistan are desperate to bounce back from the narrow defeat against Pakistan in the Twenty20 World Cup when they face Namibia on Sunday, said fast bowler Naveenul Haq.

A blitz from batsman Asif Ali who smashed pace bowler Karim Janat for four sixes in the penultimate over helped Pakistan to a five-wicket win in Dubai on Friday.

“The mood is a bit dull after we lost a close game,” Haq told media on Saturday. “We desperately want to get back in the match against Namibia,” said Haq of the Abu Dhabi fixture which will be the first T20 International between the two sides.

Namibia qualified from the first round at the expense of more fancied Ireland and the Netherlands and have beaten Scotland by four wickets in their first Super 12 Group 2 match.

“We are looking forward to the game against Namibia,” said Haq, who conceded just two runs in the 18th over, leaving Pakistan to score a tough 24 off the last 12 balls.

Asif smashed Janat’s first, third, fifth and sixth ball searing over the boundary to seal Pakistan’s third win in as many games.

Haq said the whole team has rallied behind a dispirited Janat.

“It can happen to any bowler,” admits Haq who was the best bowler in the Twenty20 blast in England and Wales this year, claiming 26 wickets for Leicestershire.

“He was down but everyone supported him and we all have to get back,” said Haq. “If you look he had bowled his first three overs very well.”

Haq declared the Group 2 points table was still wide open.

“Table is open other than Pakistan who are almost in the semi-finals,” said Haq with Pakistan on top with six points.

Afghanistan are placed second with one win and a defeat.

“Three teams are vying for a semi-final spot and we are a side that can beat any team in the tournament and that we proved last night against Pakistan,” said Haq.

“We are up for India and New Zealand,” said Haq of their opponents on Nov 3 and 7 — both in Abu Dhabi.

Meanwhile, Namibia’s Craig Williams said that their experience of facing Afghanistan in the past should come in handy, insisting that their batsmen were more than capable of tackling the threat posed by the opposition’s spin attack.

“We’ve played Afghanistan, I mean, many, many times in the past. We know what they can do. So it’s just about on the day being able to handle our nerves and execute the plans to put in place,” he said.

“I’ll put the vulnerability [recent struggles against spin] down to a bit of nerves. We actually

play spin very well. Our conditions back home aren’t flat wickets. They’re quite low and slow... so we’ve put in really good preparation.”

Namibia, playing at their first major T20 tournament, scraped past Scotland earlier this week, and Williams added that the remaining games were an opportunity to make a mark on the world stage.

“It would be fantastic if we can get the likes of Gerhard Erasmus and JJ [Smit] and Ruben Trumpelmann playing around the world. Still looking for our first Namibian to play in the IPL. So hopefully after this tournament we can get one of those deals on the table,” he said.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2021