Watch cricket video highlights of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 forty-eight match between Afghanistan vs Australia. Venue of the match will be Kingstown.
Afghanistan’s seamers destroyed Australia’s top order with a semi-final position on the line. Glenn Maxwell then countered Afghanistan with a series of deceptive shots that gave them a déjà vu feeling. As soon as one shoveled four off Azmatullah Omarzai, Maxwell grinned broadly. Maxwell gave the Australian dressing room the thumbs up after he mentioned a 35-ball half-century, and it appeared as though they would lock up their spot in the last four and once more defeat Afghanistan.
But Maxwell’s 59 off 41 balls was stopped by Gulbadin Naib and Noor Ahmad, keeping Afghanistan’s hopes alive in this T20 World Cup. Once Naib managed to conceal one from Maxwell’s swinging arc, Noor executed an amazing, low catch at backward point. After Maxwell departed the game, Australia was 106 for 6 in the fifteenth over, requiring 43 off 32 balls on the St. Vincent field, which had a bounce that varied and sharp turn.
With his career-best T20I stats of 4 for 20, Naib took advantage of the circumstances to help bowl Australia out for 127. As their eighth bowler, Naib was instrumental in Afghanistan’s historic triumph against Australia in all forms, taking out players like Pat Cummins, Tim David, Marcus Stoinis, and Maxwell. Although Cummins had previously scored three goals in a row and nearly achieved a four-game shutout, this was undoubtedly Naib’s and Afghanistan’s day.
To position Afghanistan for a competitive total, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran struck up their third century stand in this competition, making history as the first pair to do so in any T20I series. After both openers scored half-centuries, Australia had to wait until the 16th over to make any progress. In T20Is, Australia has never had to wait so long for a wicket. After playing out 21 dots in the first four overs, Gurbaz and Ibrahim could only manage 17. However, they more than quadrupled the score in the following two overs, finishing the powerplay at 40 for 0.
Then, Ibrahim created swinging space and smashed Ashton Agar for four runs while Gurbaz sprang out of his crease and hammered Adam Zampa for a straight six. Australia selected the left-arm fingerspinner (4-1-17-0) ahead of Mitchell Starc in order to match him against an Afghanistan lineup that was strong on right-handers. However, he failed to pick up any wickets.
Gurbaz and Ibrahim mostly used percentage shots to neutralize Australia’s onslaught and the playing conditions. Had Zampa not wasted a challenging opportunity in the outfield, where he ultimately parried it away to the boundary, Ibrahim may have been removed on 11. When Stoinis blasted a return catch on number 32, Ibrahim was awarded another life. Afghanistan took advantage of Australia’s several lost opportunities on the field as they maintained their uncharacteristically careless play.
After earning his second hat-trick in three days, Cummins spearheaded Australia’s comeback at the end. He removed Rashid Khan, Karim Janat, and Naib throughout the course of the 18th and 20th overs on Saturday at St. Vincent. Cummins said that he was unaware he was on a hat-trick when he accomplished the feat against Bangladesh, but on Saturday against Afghanistan, he was conscious of it and raised his hands in joy before Maxwell had even collected the ball. Had David Warner not dropped Nangeyalia Kharote off the following ball, Cummins may have scored four in a row. Afghanistan reached 148 for 6, having started the 16th over at 118 for 0, and at the halfway point, the game was open to anyone.
Afghanistan is accustomed to Fazalhaq Farooqi’s many powerplay strikes, but in this instance, Naveen-ul-Haq was the one who destroyed Australia’s top order. Once Naveen removed the first two balls from Travis Head, the ball swung and seamed away sharply, making Head look foolish and smashing into the middle stump. Naveen then threatened to bring one back into the batter with the angle from around the wicket. Within his subsequent over, Naveen produced a catch to mid-off from Mitchell Marsh with a slower ball travelling at 108 kph that would have made his Afghanistan bowling mentor and Texas Super Kings teammate, Dwayne Bravo, pleased.
Australia finished three overs at 16 for 2. Let’s introduce Maxwell. After two fours off Omarzai in three balls, he got to work and removed rookie left-arm spinner Kharote from the attack. In a 13-run over, he initially reverse-swept Kharote over slip for four before hitting him with a terrific slog-sweeping stroke over midwicket. After just one over, Kharote went through with the ball. In addition, Maxwell kept Australia informed about the asking rate and took some calculated chances against Rashid. Afghanistan may have seen the ghosts of Mumbai 2023 return when he scored a six off Naib to complete his half-century.
However, Naib assisted them in driving out the spirits. In 13 overs, Australia was 94 for 5, with Wade and Maxwell in the middle. In his first two overs, Naib had already dismissed David and Stoinis. He was not even in the Plan A for Afghanistan. Rashid moved to Naib when the spinners were failing miserably, particularly against Maxwell. Naib reacted by taking two more wickets.
Despite his lack of speed, Naib continued to contact the surface, causing the ball to respond differently as it did so. He unleashed a thunderous yell that might have been heard in Kabul, flexing his biceps and dismissing Maxwell in his third over. The supporters of Afghanistan in St. Vincent raised their flags and cheered with their hero. Naib tricked Cummins with a slower cutter in his last over, and then Naveen and Omarzai wrapped things up for Afghanistan.
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