Zadran, Nabi star as Afghanistan post commanding win over Canada

Match Overview

Afghanistan and Canada locked horns in the 39th match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Thursday, February 19. Canadian captain Dilpreet Bajwa won the toss and elected to bowl first.

The Afghan openers - Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran - provided their team with a brisk start before Jaskaran Singh struck twice in the sixth over to send back Gurbaz and new man Gulbadin Naib to end Afghanistan's powerplay at 49/2. But, that was the only success the Canadians would have for the next 10 overs as Zadran and Sediqullah Atal took on the mantle and built a big partnership to drive their team into a position of dominance.

Zadran completed his 16th T20I fifty off 33 balls in the 13th over as the duo kept going in the same vein until Jaskaran came back to produce another wicket, this time scalping Atal in the 16th over with the score being 144/3 now. Zadran, along with some support from Azmatullah Omarzai and Darwish Rasooli, provided the final flourish to take his team to 200/4.

Canada, in response, began rapidly as they scored 24 runs off the first two overs. But, things started to go downhill for them subsequently. They lost three wickets for eight runs in the next three overs, ending their powerplay at a paltry 34/3. The dismissals did not stop as the tweakers began spinning the web around the Canadian batting line-up. The innings was going nowhere as the North Americans found themselves at 60/5 at the halfway mark.

Saad Bin Zafar and Harsh Thaker combined to form a 53-run partnership off 37 balls which provided respectability to the Canadian innings. Apart from the duo, there were no notable contributions from the lower order as Canada trickled to 118/8 in their 20 overs. Afghanistan completed a huge win by 82 runs and ended their 2026 campaign along with their opposition.

Top run-scorer of the match

Top wicket-taker of the match

Player of the Match

Ibrahim Zadran

Zadran carried on from where he left off in the previous match against the UAE. The right-hander started sedately but when he was joined by Atal, the 24-year-old started to accelerate. Zadran paced the innings very well and chose to attack the right bowlers at the right time. His innings helped Afghanistan take the game away from the Canadians in the first innings and the 200-run target proved too much for them in the end.

Turning Point

The third-wicket 95-run stand off 60 deliveries between Zadran and Atal took Afghanistan to a dominating position. The duo built on the momentum gained during the powerplay, and displayed an array of strokes to take the Atalans towards a big score. By the time the partnership ended, the Afghans had a great platform to launch in the last four overs thanks to this pair.

What the captains said

Winning Team Captain, Rashid Khan (AFG)

"We had some wonderful time with him (Trott). It's quite emotional, we wish him all the best. We prepared for this tournament. The game against South Africa put us on the back foot and that hurt us. Last two games, we did really great. We'll take the positives. Couple of areas we need to improve, especially batting in the middle order. And bowling in the death overs, we need to work a lot. (Message to the fans) Thank you everyone who supported us. We felt like we were playing in Afghanistan. We have got so much love and support."

Losing Team Captain, Dilpreet Bajwa (CAN)

"We played franchise cricket together and he's (Azmatullah) a good friend of mine. We started well, we have a problem with our finishing. That went against us. They bowled well, we lost early wickets and it was hard to chase. It was a good tournament for our players. As a unit, we didn't play well. Looking forward to do well in the future. Chennai always supports cricket, we thank them."