Afghanistan stunned Australia and claimed their revenge for the defeat in CWC 2023 in their Super Eight clash. Afghan boys looked determined to not repeat any mistakes they have committed in their previous 50-over WC clash, this time. Hence, they have been able to script history for their nation in T20 World Cup 2024.
Interestingly, Gulbadin Naib, who became a villain for his team in CWC 2019 match against Pakistan turned into a hero here. Afghanistan managed to restrict Pakistan with spinners in that match when Gulbadin, then captain, decided to bowl his military medium pace during final overs. It turned out to be a death sentence to Afghan boys looking for their share of history.
But this time around, Gulbadin with his slower balls foxed Australian batters in middle overs to give his team, a historic win. Going into the details, Australia won the toss and elected to field first. Afghanistan openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran took cautious approach from the word go. They have put on 118 runs opening stand in 15.5 overs not letting Aussies overpower them.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz curbed his natural instinct to attack and scored 60 runs off 49 balls. Ibrahim Zadran also scored 51 runs from 48 balls. But rest could not fire and Afghanistan managed to put 148/6 on board in 20 overs. Australia rested Mitchell Starc for Ashton Agar and the left arm spinner had a rare horrendous day on the field while he bowled brilliantly.
Pat Cummins(3/28), once again took a hat-trick restricting opponent team in final overs. He took back-to-back hat-tricks for his team and became first bowler to do so. In the chase, Afghanistan dimissed dangerous Travis Head for a duck in the first over. Naveen-ul-Haq produced a beauty to send him back and even hard-hitting Mitchell Marsh(12), in the powerplay.
David Warner also fell cheaply. Glenn Maxwell, once again tried to repeat his CWC 2023 heroics but he fell after scoring 59 runs from 41 balls. Gulbadin Naib with 4/20 broke the back of over confident Australia in this match to give his team a historic win by 21 runs. Australia got dismissed for 127 in the chase and if they lose to India, they can be eliminated, if Afghans win against Bangladesh.