Afghanistan on Sunday trumped Australia by 21 runs in their second Super Eight match in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup at the Arnos Vale Stadium in Kingstown, St Vincent.
Australia won the toss and invited Afghanistan to bat first. Rahmanullah Gurbaz and his opening partner Ibrahim Zadran hit half centuries to help their side set a 149 runs target for the opposition.
Gurbaz slammed 60 off 49 balls, while Zadran struck 51 off 46. Gurbaz smashed two boundaries and four towering sixes to set the tone for Afghanistan’s innings.
While chasing the target, the Aussies were in all sorts of trouble before Glenn Maxwell came in their way. He did scare Afghan bowlers for quite some time but failed to deliver.
Maxwell tamed the Afghani spinners, hitting sixes at will, with memories of the 2023 ODI World Cup taking centrestage among the fans.
Maxwell slammed 59 off 41 balls with six fours and three sixes and it seemed he would put salt to the six-month-old wound with his power-hitting.
But Gulbadin Naib, who had already taken the wickets of Marcus Stoinis and Tim David, produced a magical delivery to find a thick outside edge and Noor Ahmad took a stunner at backward point to bring the Afghans back in the game.
The Australians were bundled out for 127 in 19.2 overs, falling to their first-ever defeat at the hands of Afghanistan..
For Afghanistan, Gulbadin was the star of the show with four wickets for 20 runs in his superb spell.
Naveen-ul-Haq chipped in with three wickets, while skipper Rashid, Azmat and Nabi grabbed one wicket each.
Keeping their hopes for a semi-final berth alive, Afghanistan will take on Bangladesh in their final encounter on June 25 at the same venue.
kk/mud
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