New Delhi: Gulbadin Naib and Naveen-ul-Haq shared seven wickets between the as Afghanistan scripted history by beating heavyweights Australia by 21 runs for the first time ever on Sunday in a Super 8 clash of the ongoing World Cup. With this win, Afghanistan kept their semifinals hopes alive with one win from two games. Afghanistan’s final Group 1 match will be against Bangladesh On Monday.
This was Australia’s first loss against Afghanistan in six international matches. With this win, Afghanistan have clearly opened the group for the semifinal race. India are on top of Group 1 with two wins from as many games. Both Australia and Afghanistan have one win from two games each.
Afghanistan’s win also meant that India need to win their final Super 8 game against Australia for a place in the semifinals. If Afghanistan beat Bangladesh in their final game, then they will qualify for semifinals. On the other hand, Australia would pray Afghanistan to lose against Bangladesh as that would pave their way into the last four in the tournament.
Afghanistan’s victory against Australia also comes as a revenge after Glenn Maxwell single-handedly defeated the Asian side in the ODI World Cup 2023 with an unbeaten 201. Defending a below-par 149, all-rounder Naib produced his career-best figures of 4/20 and Naveen snared 3/20 as Australia were bundled out for 127 in 19.2 overs. Afghanistan had earlier defeated New Zealand in the group stage.
Maxwell was the top-scorer for Australia with 59 as none of his teammates could stand in front of the Afghanistan attack. Earlier, Afghanistan rode on openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (60) and Ibrahim Zadran’s (51) half centuries to post 148/6.