AFG vs AUS Highlights, T20 WC: Gulbadin Naib’s deadly spell guided Afghanistan to a historic 21-run victory over Australia
Afghanistan vs Australia, Highlights, T20 World Cup 2024: Gulbadin Naib’s killer touches helped Afghanistan secure a historic 21-run win over Australia in a Super 8 match of the T20 World Cup 2024 on Sunday (IST).
Chasing Australia for 149 after losing wickets early on, Glenn Maxwell came to the rescue and overpowered the Afghanistan bowlers. Maxwell scored 59 off 41 balls to bring Australia back into the match.
However, Afghanistan’s bowlers bounced back brilliantly to bowl Australia out for 127 and register a thrilling win. Naib took four wickets and Naveen-ul-Haq three.
Apart from them, Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai and Rashid Khan also picked up a wicket each. This was Afghanistan’s first win against Australia in international cricket.
Earlier in the game, Australian pacer Pat Cummins also became the first bowler to take consecutive hat-tricks in T20Is.
Yes, Afghanistan may have just won two trans-Tasman matches in this World Cup and sent the Aussies home as well as the Kiwis, but there’s still plenty of cricket to be played. Next up is USA vs England at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, in a Group 2 match of the Super Eight stage on Sunday, June 23. The match starts at 8pm (2:30pm GMT), but you can arrive earlier to prepare. Until then, good luck and bye!
Afghanistan’s victorious captain Rashid Khan said this was a big win for them, adding that it felt great to finally beat Australia after coming so close in the past two World Cups. He said he was very happy with his team’s performance and that they have learnt from their mistakes which has helped them a lot.
He said that they knew 140 would be a good result but they didn’t finish as they expected. He said that the opening partnership was important as the wickets got harder towards the end.
He further added that the beauty of this team is that they have a lot of all-rounders who can contribute and that Gulbadin Naib performed well in this match and Nabi also got some important wickets early on. Finally, he said that this is a big win for them and they will now focus on the next match as they have every chance to progress to the semi-finals.
Australia captain Mitchell Marsh said their opponents scored 20 runs too many and they played a really good game of cricket. He added that a lot of teams had bowled first throughout the tournament and were happy with that.
He said it was a bad night for them on the field and they needed to get it under control. He added that they knew what was coming in this game and they lost to Afghanistan. On facing India, he said he was looking forward to it and they just needed to win and that would be their focus.
Gulbadin Naib was named man of the match for his play with the ball that brought the match victory. They have been waiting for this for a long time and this is a great moment for the team and the whole country, he says.
It was not easy batting towards the wicket but they have taken some things from the first innings and it has worked. He said he is glad that Rashid Khan trusted him and this was a complete team effort and everyone played their part.
He said that in this World Cup they beat New Zealand in the group stage, they played some good cricket and finally beating Australia is a great achievement for cricket.
Early in the game, Mitchell Marsh won the coin toss and elected to bat first on a pitch that most people thought was good for batting first. Afghanistan’s openers put in a spirited performance, setting the stage for their team with a series of 100-point stands.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran both reached their fifties but were soon eliminated, with the midfielders unable to get going from the get-go. Adam Zampa was again very consistent for Australia, and Pat Cummins made history by taking a hat-trick in two consecutive World Cup matches.
Mohammad Nabi managed to take Afghanistan close to 150 after the final score, giving them momentum. In response, Australia’s top order missed the ball and had to chase it down until they finally ran out of steam.
This will be a very bitter pill to swallow for Australia, who will need to bounce back quickly when they next face a world-class team from India in a crucial battle for a place in the semi-finals.
Bowling first, they knew it would be difficult to hit the ball cleanly early and late, but they just couldn’t keep wickets to make the most of the middle overs. Travis Head tried for a duck, David Warner showed hesitation and captain Mitchell Marsh started to fight back, but he too fell, leaving his team in a hole.
It was Glenn Maxwell who ultimately bailed them out and everything pointed to a repeat of last year’s memorable ODI World Cup match, but a superb catch from Noor Ahmad saw Maxwell bowled out for 59 and he was unable to hang on until the end. There’s not much to write home about the rest of the batting line-up, which ended up being bowled out pretty soundly.
Afghanistan had a defensible total on the board given the nature of the surface and the move to give Naveen-ul-Haq the first over instead of Fazal Haq Farooqi started off brilliantly with the ball as Naveen handled Travis Head and Afghanistan could attack from there.
They had Australia reeling at 32/3 but things started to fall apart and the spinners failed to do much damage in the middle. What really turned the tide was Gulbadin Naib’s sensational effort late in the innings, when he reached the tail-end taking four wickets before Naveen returned to take a total of three wickets.
Azmatullah Omarzai capped off a brilliant performance with the final wicket as Afghanistan eliminated Australia to record their first T20I win.
