WATCH: The first-ever victory of France in T20 Internationals
France beat Portugal in the league phase of the World T20 2020 European qualifier
A few weeks back, France rocked the entire world by lifting the FIFA World Cup, beating Croatia 4-2. After scripting history on the football field, the Frenchmen are gearing up to compete for the top cricketing nations of the world in the upcoming World T20 going to be held in Australia in 2020.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has recently given nod to 18 European countries to prove their mettle on the cricket field. All the teams have been divided into 3 groups (A, B and C) and the competition has begun in the Netherlands.
In the match number six of the Group A qualifier, France outclassed Portugal in a nail-bitting affair on Thursday.
After losing the toss, France were invited to bat first. Opener Noman Naeem (32) and No 3 batsman JL Lambourdiere (30) played some crucial knocks to pile up a total of 114 runs in 20 overs at a loss of 8 wickets. In return, the Portuguese managed to score just 112 and lost the game by 2 runs.
Watch Highlights:
The #WT20 Europe Qualifiers saw a last-ball thriller yesterday, with @francecricket and @CricketPortugal taking it to the wire!
— ICC (@ICC) August 31, 2018
Catch the highlights of France's 2 run win at @KampongCC! pic.twitter.com/MqfZfvsoO1
Portugal bowler Tariq Aziz picked 3 wickets while SP Sharma clinched 2. Skipper Nadeem Butt and Paolo Buccimazza grabbed a wicket each.
This was the first-ever T20I victory for France. However, they are currently posted at 4th position in the points table with 1 victory and 2 points. Denmark is currently leading with 6 points followed by Austria (4), and Germany (4).