Before today, Scotland had never won in an ICC major event and had never beaten Afghanistan in a Twenty20 International. Those two facts remain true (if one accepts this glorified qualifier as a true part of an ICC major event) after Scotland threw away what should have been a match winning position today against Afghanistan in Nagpur.

Afghan captain Asghar Stanikzai won the toss and chose to bat first. After losing Noor Ali Zadran early on when he sliced one down to third man, they had Mohammad Shahzad and the captain put on 82 for the second wicket to take the score to 107 in the 13th over. Mohammad Shahzad got out on the last ball of that over when he attempted to loft the ball over the bowler's head but was unable to get hold of it, offering a straightforward catch to Calum MacLeod.

The run scoring slowed as Scotland's bowlers got back into the game, Afghanistan only really taking off in the last three overs, from which they scored 37. Alasdair Evans was the most economical of Scotland's bowlers, going for 24 from his four overs as Afghanistan scored 170-5.

Scotland got their run chase off to a fantastic start with Kyle Coetzer and George Munsey putting together an opening partnership of 84 in 8.5 overs. The partnership ended when Coetzer, on 40, miscued a pull shot into the grateful hands of Najibullah Zadran, running in from the deep square leg boundary.

The wheels then came off the Scotland chase, with Munsey trapped lbw by Rashid Khan two balls later. When Berrington was the fourth man out in the 13th over, just 24 runs had been added in 3.5 overs. Matt Machan and Preston Mommsen stayed in long enough to put on 41 for the fifth wicket, but were scoring too slowly.

Scotland needed 21 runs from the final over, but could only manage six, losing by 14 runs. They will next play on Thursday against Zimbabwe. Afghanistan will also be in action on that day, taking on Hong Kong.