Australia’s botched T20 World Cup hopes under threat after historic defeat to Afghanistan | T20 World Cup 2024

T20 World Cup 2024

Australian Associated Press

Sun June 23, 2024 06:46 CEST

Australia suffered a shock 21-point defeat to Afghanistan that puts their semi-final hopes at the 2024 Games in jeopardy. T20 World Cup.

The 2021 champions’ first-ever defeat against Afghanistan came after openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (60 off 49 balls) and Ibrahim Zadran (51 off 48) defied a fiendish St. Vincent wicket for a 118-run stand – the greatest opening partnership ever recorded against Australia. in T20s. But with his second hat-trick in as many matches, the in-form speedy Pat Cummins (3-28) helped Australia recover and restrict Afghanistan to 148-6 on Sunday.

Chasing 149, Australia were embarrassed by the difficult conditions, falling to 32-3 late in the powerplay as the Afghan quicks began a dominant stay at the crease.

Glenn Maxwell (59 off 41) returned to form with the bat and threatened to resume his role as Afghanistan’s bogeyman, after a double century in the ODI World Cup last year. But Afghanistan could smell victory when the all-rounder denied player of the match Gulbadin Naib (4-20) at back point, where Noor Ahmad took a difficult chance in the 15th.

Australia were all out for 127 in the final over, settling for sloppy fielding and a slow start with the bat.

The defeat means Australia may have to rely on a clean run rate to qualify for the final four, even if they manage to beat India in their final Super Eight match at 12:30 a.m. AEST on Tuesday. Afghanistan’s historic victory keeps their own hopes of a fairytale semi-final berth alive ahead of their third Super Eight match against Bangladesh.

After winning the toss, Australia wasted five fielding chances, the first two coming during the blistering opening stand. As Gurbaz and Zadran wreaked havoc, Matthew Wade missed an easy opportunity to miscue and Australia twice lost four runs following fielding errors from Ashton Agar after he was called into the XI for Mitchell Starc.

After wasting an earlier chance, Marcus Stoinis (1-19) made a long-awaited breakthrough when Gurbaz picked out David Warner at backward square leg. When that scalp finally arrived – in the 16th over – it was the longest time Australia had gone in a T20I without taking a wicket.

Australia’s two best front-row bowlers this tournament, Adam Zampa (2-28) and Cummins ensured that Afghanistan’s batting order never got back into high gear once the opening partnership broke down.

Cummins became the first player to take hat-tricks in consecutive T20 matches when Gulbadin (0) lured him to Maxwell at deep mid-wicket in the final over. The quick Australian could then have had another scalp off the next ball if the usually reliable Warner had held back Nangeyalia Kharote at deep point.

Naveen-ul-Haq (3-20) justified the decision to start Afghanistan’s innings with pace, swinging the ball into Travis Head’s middle stump on the third ball of the innings. The losses of Head (0) and Mitch Marsh (12) in three overs raised alarm bells, and Australia were officially in panic mode when Afghanistan injected spin for the first time.

David Warner (three) skied Mohammad Nabi (1-1) to short fine leg off the off-spinner’s first delivery and set the stage for Maxwell to haunt Afghanistan again. But when the all-rounder’s mettle ended, Australia were in the bowlers and limping to the finish at 106-6.

With Australia needing 24 runs from the final over, Azmatullah Omarzai sealed victory when Zampa hit him to Nabi with four balls remaining.