T20 World Cup 2022: The thrill just doesn't seem to end in the ongoing cricketing tournament. With the tournament heading towards the business end, the Aussies have somehow managed to keep themselves alive. The Afghans fought valiantly and threatened to take the game away, but the Aussies held their nerves till the final moments of the game and claimed victory. The Australians certainly won't be very happy with this victory but this certainly has kept them in the hunt as far as the race of semi-final is considered.
In one of its kind of event, Australia went in for three changes. Their key players, Aaron Finch, Tim David, and Mitchell Starc missed out. In their absence, Australia roped in Kane Richardson, Cameron Green, and Steve Smith. Afghanistan won the toss and opted to bowl. David Warner opened the proceedings with Cameron Green but failed to deliver for their team. Mitchell Marsh took on the Afghanistan bowlers and struck a sublime 45 off 30 deliveries. Marsh scored at a strike rate of 150.00 and hit 3 boundaries and 2 sixes. He received ample amount of support from Maxwell who scored 54 off 32 deliveries and helped Australia reach a total of 168 at the loss of 8 wickets. As far as Afghanistan is considered Naveen-ul-Haq was the pick of the bowlers as he picked 3 wickets up and conceded just 21 runs.
When Afghanistan opened the innings, they might have fancied their chances to chase the target down, but they made a complete mockery of it. Rahmanullah Gurbaz scored a sublime 30 off 17 deliveries. Gurbaz was joined in by Zadran who scored 26 off 33 deliveries. Later it was Gulbadin Nabwho made 39 off 23 deliveries. Josh Hazlewood scalped 2 wickets and Zampa also claimed a couple. It was last-minute heroics by Rashid Khan who helped Afghanistan reach a total of 164. Afghanistan lost the match by 4 runs. Australia now need England to lose to Sri Lanka in order to go through to the next stage.
Team
Afghanistan XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Usman Ghani, Ibrahim Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Darwish Rasooli, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi(c), Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi
Australia XI: Cameron Green, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade(w/c), Pat Cummins, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
