Afghanistan shock Australia to keep T20 World Cup semis hopes alive

It seems Australia’s refusal to not play Afghanistan in bilateral series over the treatment of females in the Asian country seems to have provided an extra incentive to the Afghans.

Last year, they ran Australia close, reducing them to 91/7 in chase of 292 before Glenn Maxwell’s 201 not out took the Aussies home.

On June 23 at the 2024 T20 World Cup in St Vincent and the Grenadines, however, they did not allow Aussies any escape even though Maxwell was looking good to take them home.

The 21-run win kept the hopes of Afghanistan reaching the semi-finals alive and sparked celebrations in parts of the country like the Khost province (check main image).

They are now on two points, the same as Australia and need to beat Bangladesh with a huge margin. Australia too need to win against India.

Afghanistan began well, putting on 118 runs for the first wicket in 16 overs with openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (60 off 49 balls) and Ibrahim Zadran (51 off 48 balls) scoring half-centuries.

They managed to reach 148/6 in their 20 overs.

In response, Australia started badly losing Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, and David Warner inside the powerplay. Maxwell scored 59 off 41 balls but the effort proved futile.

Medium-pacer Gulbadin Naib took 4/20 while fellow medium-pacer Naveen-ul-Haq took 3/20.  Naib was adjudged man of the match.

Australia now play India on June 24 and need to beat India with comfortable margin. Afghanistan play Bangladesh on June 25 and will know what to do to qualify.

Afghanistan, Australia, T20 World Cup,