Kingstown (St. Vincent): Rashid Khan-led Afghanistan took their 2023 ODI World Cup exit revenge on Australia as they scripted history, securing their maiden victory over the 2021 champions by 21 runs in the Super Eight clash of the T20 World Cup 2024 at Arnos Vale Ground here on Sunday.
Afghanistan have successfully defended a total which wasn't going to be very easy for Australia and this time around, the former side has emerged triumphant against 2021 World Champions and took the revenge of the 2023 ODI World Cup exit from the same team.
Given the nature of the nature of the turf, Rashid's decision to start with both the pacers worked in their favour as Naveen-ul-Haq knocked over in-form Travis Head the first over instead of Fazalhaq Farooqi was spot on as Naveen cleaned up Travis Head and from there on, the Afghans were able to attack. He then removed opposition captain Mitchell Marsh in the next over and then former skipper Mohammad Nabi got rid of David Warner in the next over.
They had Kangaroos reeling at 32/3 before things started to fall apart and the spinners didn't do much damage in the middle phase, rather they had no impact despite the conditions being much in their favour. However, bringing in a right-arm medium pacer into the attack in the middle, proved a masterstroke from the Afghan captain.
He bowled a sensational spell from Gulbadin Naib in the second half of the innings that really turned the tide. He picked up four wickets to get into the tail-enders including Australia's highest run-getter of the season -- Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, top scorer for Australia in the game Glenn Maxwell and hat-trick man Pat Cummins. Naveen came back in to pick up three wickets in total to ensure the game wouldn't slip away from their hands. Azmatullah Omarzai rounded off a fine display as he got the final wicket and Afghanistan bundled out Australia and picked up their first-ever win against them in T20Is.
Earlier in the game, Australia captain Mitchell Marsh won the toss and opted to bowl on a pitch where most people thought that batting first was the way to go. It was a gritty effort from the Afghanistan openers as they put on a 100-plus stand to set things up for their side. Both Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran smashed fifties but couldn't hang on till the end and fell soon after and the middle order just wasn't able to kick on from the get-go.
Leg-spinner Adam Zampa was yet again very consistent for Australia and Pat Cummins made history by picking up hat-tricks in consecutive World Cup matches. However, seasoned cricketer Nabi managed to drag Afghanistan close to the 150-run mark with a boundary off the final delivery and that gave them a bit of impetus. In reply, Australia's top order misfired and they were left chasing the game and eventually, they ran out of steam.
As a result, Afghanistan have created history with a remarkable win, leaving Australia on the cusp of elimination and making it the more interesting scenario in Group A. The Mitchell Marsh-led side will have to secure a victory with a better margin and keep themselves in the hunt. It has become the must-win match for Afghanistan, India and Australia if they want to confirm their place in the semis otherwise it will come to the NRR, hence, not just a win, but with a huge margin is very important for both Afghanistan and Australia.
Brief Scores: Afghanistan 148 for 6 in 20 overs (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 60, Ibrahim Zadran 51; Pat Cummins 3/28) beat
Australia 127 all out in 19.2 overs (Glenn Maxwell 59; Gulbadin Naib 4/20)
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