Afghanistan snatched a shocking win against the ODI 2023 champions Australia in the Super 8 of T20 World Cup 2024. Afghans won by 21 runs against Aussies at Arnos Vale Ground, Kingstown, St Vincent on Sunday morning (June 23).
Afghanistan openers, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zardan produced a significant score of 60 and 51, respectively. While other players like Naib and Janat stretching it to a total of 148/6 in 20 overs.
Maxwell almost took Australia to victory yet again. Opener, Travis Head was dismissed at a duck. Maxwell with (59 off 41 balls) seemed to take it from Afghans before Gulbadin Naib dismissed him to leave the Aussies at 106/6. Naib garnered his career best figure of 4/20. After Maxwell, Aussies succumbed to Afghan’s bowling attack, losing by 21 runs, scoring 127 runs in 19.2 overs.
Earlier Afghanistan had met Australia on 3 occasions in the ODI World Cup. They hold a record of zero wins against Australia in ODI World Cup. Captain Rashid Khan in post match ceremony said,
“Massive win for us as a team and as a nation. Great feeling. It’s something we have missed in the last two years. Really happy with the win and super proud of the guys.”
This is the first win by Afghanistan in the Group 1, points table. India tops the table while Australia is till at number second, given its good Net Run Rate. And Bangladesh’s net run rate is poor, which puts them into a weak position in the tournament.
| T20 World Cup 2024 Super 8 Points Table | ||||||
| Group 1 team rankings | ||||||
| Teams | M | W | L | NR | PT | NRR |
| India | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2.425 |
| Australia | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0.223 |
| Afghanistan | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -0.65 |
| Bangladesh | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | -2.489 |
Can Afghanistan Qualify For The T20 World Cup Semi Finals?
India has strong run rate and have consistently won the matches in the T20 World Cup 2024. This means they have strong chance to get into the semi final.
India next plays Australia on June 22 in St. Lucia, while Afghanistan. And Bangladesh’s last Super 8 face off will be against Afghanistan on Tuesday (June 25).
The possible scenario for Afghanistan to make it to Semi final can be: it has to beat Bangladesh. Also, if India beats Australia that will strengthen its chance to make the semis.
But even after that, Afghanistan needs to increase its Net Run Rate to make it through.
Tabinda Mir is a writer from Kashmir. She is an English Honours graduate and her interests primarily dwell in poetry and sports writing. She likes to cover Cricket as an avid fan. Apart from sports, her other publications include articles, poems and a letter to summer in the book titled, “Under The Summer Skies”.
Also, her leisure time activities include reading novels, poetry, non literary works, philosophies and writing poetry, short stories, articles on diverse themes.
