Afghanistan 148 for 6 (Gurbaz 60, Ibrahim 51, Cummins 3-28, Zampa 2-28) beat Australia 127 (Maxwell 59, Gulbadin 4-20, Naveen 3-20) by 21 runs
With a semi-final spot on the line, Australia’s top order was wiped out by Afghanistan’s seamers.
Glenn Maxwell then pulled off one trick shot after another to counter Afghanistan and leave them feeling a sense of déjà vu. One shovelled four off Azmatullah Omarzai had Maxwell grinning from ear to ear. After he brought up a 35-ball half-century, Maxwell put his thumbs-up to the Australia dressing room and looked set to secure their place in the final four and KO Afghanistan once again.
Gulbadin Naib, though, combined with Noor Ahmad to stop Maxwell on 59 off 41 balls and keep Afghanistan alive in this T20 World Cup. After Naib hid one away from Maxwell’s swinging arc, Noor pulled off a spectacular, low catch at backward point. Maxwell’s exit left Australia at 106 for 6 in the 15th over, still needing 43 off 32 balls on the St Vincent pitch that offered sharp turn and variable bounce.
Naib used those conditions to his advantage to come away with career-best T20I figures of 4 for 20 to help dismiss Australia for 127. Brought in as their eighth bowler, Naib took out Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David and Pat Cummins to headline Afghanistan’s famous victory, their first over Australia across formats.
Earlier, Cummins had bagged a hat-trick in consecutive World Cup games, and almost got four in four, but this was indeed Naib and Afghanistan’s day.
Full report to follow…
