wayne parnell picked up a further two wickets but his side, kabul zwanan, missed the chance to establish an outright lead at the top of the afghanistan premier league.
they went down by 15 runs to nangarhar leopards after winning three of the opening games and occupy third spot in the table.
worcestershire all-rounder parnell struck in the 18th and 20th overs as opponents nangarhar leopards totalled 182-5.
parnell, who will begin a three year contract at New Road next summer, ended with figures of 2-47 from his four overs.
it followed his double breakthrough in the previous game against kandahar knights.
openers anton devcich (77) and johnson charles (43) put on 115 in 11.3 overs but then the run rate was kept in check for the remainder of the innings.
the kabul innings followed a similar pattern with openers hazratullah zazai (40 off 22 balls) and luke ronchi (50 off 31 deliveries) plundering 80 in 6.4 overs.
but then the innings lost its way and, although parnell made a quickfire 11 off six balls batting at number nine before falling to ex county overseas player mitchell mcclenaghan, kabul closed on 167-9.
