Afghanistan 148 for six (Gurbaz 60, Ibrahim 51, Cummins 3-28, Zampa 2-28) beat Australia 127 (Maxwell 59, Gulbadin 4-20, Naveen 3-20) by 21 runs
With a semi-final spot on the road, Australia’s prime order was worn out by Afghanistan’s seamers.
Naib used these situations to his benefit to return away with career-best T20I figures of 4 for 20 to assist bowl Australia out for 127. Introduced in as their eighth bowler, Naib took out Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David and Pat Cummins to headline Afghanistan’s well-known victory, their first over Australia throughout codecs.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz celebrates that profitable feeling with Azmatullah Omarzai•AFP/Getty Pictures
The opening act
Each openers made half-centuries, leaving Australia ready till the sixteenth over for a breakthrough. By no means have Australia needed to wait that lengthy for a wicket in T20Is.
Gurbaz and Ibrahim had performed out 21 dots within the first 4 overs during which they managed solely 17. However within the subsequent two overs they greater than doubled the rating, ending the powerplay on 40 for 0.
Gurbaz then jumped out of his crease and pumped Adam Zampa for a straight six whereas Ibrahim manufactured swinging room and crunched Ashton Agar over cover-point for 4. Australia had picked the left-arm fingerspinner, forward of Mitchell Starc, to match him up with a right-hander heavy Afghanistan line-up on a spin-friendly floor, however he went wicketless (4-1-17-0).
Gurbaz and Ibrahim largely performed proportion photographs to counter the situations and Australia’s assault. Ibrahim may’ve been dismissed on 11 had Zampa not dropped a troublesome likelihood within the outfield; he ended up parrying it away to the boundary. Ibrahim received one other life on 32 when Stoinis shelled a return catch. Australia continued to be uncharacteristically sloppy within the area, and Afghanistan capitalised on the numerous missed possibilities.
The comeback
Cummins led Australia’s comeback on the loss of life by claiming his second hat-trick in three days. On Saturday in St Vincent, he dismissed Rashid Khan, Karim Janat and Naib throughout the 18th and twentieth overs. When he carried out the feat towards Bangladesh, Cummins mentioned that he forgot he was on a hat-trick, however on Saturday towards Afghanistan, he was conscious of it, placing his arms up in celebration even earlier than Maxwell had caught the ball. Cummins may’ve effectively had 4 in 4 had David Warner not dropped Nangeyalia Kharote off the following ball. From 118 for 0 within the sixteenth over, Afghanistan completed with 148 for six, and it was anybody’s sport on the midway mark.
Pat Cummins dismissed Gulbadin Naib to finish his second T20I hat-trick•AFP/Getty Pictures
Naveen’s double-strike
Good day once more, Maxwell
Australia have been 16 for two in three overs. Enter Maxwell. He set to work with two fours off Omarzai in an area of three balls after which dumped rookie left-arm spinner Kharote out of the assault. He first reverse-swept Kharote previous slip for 4 and slog-swept him powerfully over midwicket in a 13-run over. Kharote was accomplished with the ball after only one over.
Maxwell additionally took some calculated dangers towards Rashid and stored Australia in contact with the asking price. When he reached his half-century with a six off Naib, the ghosts of Mumbai 2023 might need resurfaced for Afghanistan.
Naib flexes his muscle groups
Naib, although, helped them exorcise the ghosts.
Australia have been 94 for five in 13 overs, with Maxwell and finisher Wade within the center. Naib had already eliminated Stoinis and David in his first two overs. He wasn’t even a part of Afghanistan’s Plan A. With the spinners erring full, particularly towards Maxwell, Rashid turned to Naib, who responded with two extra wickets.
Naib does not have excessive tempo, however he stored hitting the floor and had the ball react in another way off it. After eliminating Maxwell in his third over, he flexed his muscle groups and let loose an almighty roar that may have been heard in Kabul. The Afghanistan followers in St Vincent roared with their hero and waved the flags.
In his last over, Naib fooled Cummins with a slower cutter earlier than Naveen and Omarzai sealed the deal for Afghanistan.
Deivarayan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
