Gloveman Mohammed Shahzad delivers for Afghanistan

Mohammad Shahzad finally got his bat to wake up for Afghanistan, driving a 60 against to lay Bermuda low in their World Twenty20 Qualifiers match at the ICC Global Cricket Academy in Dubai. Afghanistan went on to defeat Bermuda by 8 wickets. Christopher Pike / The NationalShow less

DUBAI // A sure sign that the World Twenty20 Qualifier has started to reach its business stage was seen on Wednesday morning.

Mohammed Shahzad turned up.

The Afghanistan wicket-keeper, who tries his best to emulate his hero MS Dhoni whenever he goes to the crease, is one of the most watchable players in the sport. However, the pyrotechnics have been curiously absent of late.

It was always likely somebody was going to bear the brunt of the burly opener’s frustrations, sooner or later. Pity poor Bermuda, then, as he returned to form with a resounding thump at the ICC Academy yesterday.

Shahzad hit 60 from 36 balls as Afghanistan raced to an eight-wicket win with over half their overs still remaining.

“This is my natural game,” Shahzad said. “It doesn’t matter if there is 100 runs on the board or 200 runs on the board, I want to play my own game.

“It helps we have improved our run rate. We have needed to get back into form because we lost a warm-up match against Canada and the first game against Netherlands.

“We have had meetings in the team room about it. Everyone has been wanting to play their own game, but this [time] we have all played together as one team.”

A grin spread across Shahzad’s face when he was reminded his side are facing Nepal in Sharjah tomorrow.

It is a potentially crucial tie for two well-supported sides, with a substantial crowd likely to attend. All the more people for Shahzad to entertain.

Kabir Khan, Afghanistan’s coach, thinks his wicket-keeper’s return to form augurs well ahead of the key matches to come.

“It is a good sign for us,” said Kabir, the former UAE coach.

“We have been missing Shahzad opening up the innings for us the way he used to. That jump-start he provides was not there the first few matches we played.

“It is good that he is coming back into form for the important games, when it is going to really matter.”

Bermuda fell for 101 thanks to the combined efforts of three spin bowlers – Mohammed Nabi, Karim Sadiq and Samiullah Shenwari – who have been mainstays of the Afghan side’s rise over the past decade.

Nabi then briefly outshone Shahzad with the bat in a 16-ball cameo worth 33 that included sixes in three successive deliveries.

The speed at which the win was secured meant Afghanistan continued their rise in Group B, repairing the damage of an opening day loss to the Netherlands.

“First and foremost we wanted to win the match so we can push for a place in the top three, at least,” Kabir said. “We also wanted to look after the run rate as we are down in that.

“We targeted the Bermuda game and the game against Denmark [today] to try to get our run rate on track.”

The Netherlands tightened their grip on the top spot in the pool when they easily beat Nepal in the afternoon fixture at Sharjah.

Mudassar Bukhari took three wickets and also sent down a maiden in his parsimonious four-over stint as the Dutch restricted Nepal to 107.

Stephan Myburgh’s quick-fire 31 then set the pool leaders on course for a five-wicket win with 22 deliveries left over.

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