Cricket News T20 World Cup 2022

'Australia win by the barest of margins' - Twitter booming as Australia register a 4-run win over Afghanistan in 20-20 World Cup 2022

Australia eked out a narrow four run win against Afghanistan, but their semi-final hopes are dependent on Sri Lanka winning tomorrow.

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Rashid Khan

Rashid Khan: (Image Source: Twitter)

Afghanistan Afghanistan: (Image Source: Twitter)

Australia’s last match in the Super 12s turned out to be tougher than expected as Afghanistan gave a tough fight to the kangaroos. In the end, Australia won by a slender margin of just four runs.

Rashid Khan fought until the last ball to keep Afghanistan in the hunt. Earlier, Afghanistan won the toss and bowled first. Cameron Green was dismissed early in the piece by Fazalhaq Farooqui. David Warner played a quick cameo of 25 runs off 18 balls with five fours but he was eventually dismissed by Naveen Ul Haq.

Mitchell Marsh brought Australia back into the game with 45 off 30 balls with three fours and two sixes. He couldn't go on as he was dismissed by Mujeeb Ur Rahaman. At 86-4, Australia were looking in dire straits. Glenn Maxwell then revived their fortunes with a wonderful 54 off 32 balls with six fours and two sixes.

But wickets at regular intervals kept Australia down to just 168 for 8 in their 20 overs. Farooqi and Naveen ul Haq were the best bowlers for Afghanistan as they picked up 2-29 and 3-21 from their four-over spells respectively.

In the second innings, Afghanistan got off to a poor start as they lost Usman Ghani for just 2 runs from 7 balls. Rahamanullah Gurbaz played a quickfire 30 off 17 balls with two fours and two sixes. Ibrahim Zadran, on the other hand, played a slow innings of 26 off 33 balls, including two fours.

Rashid Khan top scored for Afghanistan with a 23 ball 48

Gulbadin Naib played a quick cameo of 39 off 23 balls with three fours and two sixes before he was run out by Maxwell. Then they lost two quick wickets, thereafter,  as Nabi and Najibullah fell to Josh Hazelwood and Adam Zampa respectively.

At 103 for 6, it was all looking pear-shaped for Afghanistan but Rashid Khan and Darwish Rasooli rallied together to raise the hopes of the Afghans. Rasooli supplemented Rashid and scored a valuable 15 off 13 balls. Rashid played a tremendous innings of 48 off 23 balls with three fours and four sixes. In the end, Afghanistan scored 164-7 which was only 4 short of Australia’s total.

Adam Zampa and Josh Hazelwood were the pick of the bowlers for Australia as they picked up two wickets each from their four-over spells. Twitter was abuzz, let us take a look at the reactions here:

 

Cricket News Australia Rashid Khan Afghanistan Glenn Maxwell 20-20 World Cup