AUS vs AFG, T20 World Cup 2024: Australia suffer shock defeat to Afghanistan in Super 8 encounter
Chasing 149, Australia fell 21 runs short to suffer their first loss against Afghanistan in international cricket. The Australian men’s cricket team will face India next on Tuesday.
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The Australian men’s cricket team slumped to a shock 21-run loss against Afghanistan in its second Super 8 match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 played at the Arnos Vale Stadium in Kingstown, St. Vincent on Sunday.
Afghanistan posted 148/6 on the board thanks to a fine century stand by their openers. Pat Cummins became the first player to take back-to-back hat-tricks in T20 World Cups to help Australia reel in Afghanistan towards the end.
Despite Glenn Maxwell’s fighting half-century, Australia’s chase fell short as Afghan seamers Gulbadin Naib and Naveen-ul-Haq picked up seven wickets between themselves.
Australia’s loss keeps the race for the semi-finals in Super 8 Group 1 wide open. While India top the group with four points from two games, Australia and Afghanistan are on two points each. Bangladesh are bottom with no wins in their two matches.
Sent in to bat first, Afghanistan made a cautious start with Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran playing out 21 dot balls in the first four overs and managed to put on only 17 on the board.
However, the duo stepped up the scoring rate gradually and put up a century stand - their third of the tournament. Marcus Stoinis gave Australia the first breakthrough in the 16th over, dismissing Gurbaz (60 off 49).
The wicket initiated a collapse as Adam Zampa struck twice in the next over to remove Azmatullah Omarzai (2 off 3) and Zadran (51 off 48). Pat Cummins then picked up his second successive hat-trick to restrict Afghanistan to 148/6 in 20 overs.
Cummins had Afghan captain Rashid Khan (2) caught by Tim David in the final delivery of the 18th over before picking up Karim Janat (13) and Gulbadin Naib for a duck with the first two balls of the final over.
Chasing 149, Australia kept losing wickets in regular intervals but Glenn Maxwell (59 off 41) kept them on track. The 2021 T20 World Cup winners were at 106/5 in the 15th over and on track before Gulbadin Naib finally managed to send back danger man Maxwell to turn the tide.
The Aussie innings eventually wrapped up for 127 as Afghanistan picked up their first victory against their illustrious opponents in international cricket. Player of the Match Gulbadin Naib claimed 4/20 while Naveen-ul-Haq bagged 3/20 to orchestrate the historic win.
Australia will play India in their final Super 8 game on Tuesday.
AUS vs AFG T20 World Cup 2024 brief scores: Afghanistan 148/6 (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 60; Pat Cummins 3/28) beat Australia 127/10 in 19.2 overs (Glenn Maxwell 59; Gulbadin Naib 4/20) by 21 runs.