Afghanistan play to their strengths to defeat Australia in mammoth T20 World Cup upset | Cricket News
Mitchell Marsh’s admission at the end of an epochal night was perhaps the most subtle first reaction to Afghanistan’s stunning upheaval of the former champions in Kingstown.
After a reality check in the previous Super 8 game against India, Afghanistan realised sticking to their original strengths, one of which helped them beat England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, and now Australia across the 50-over and T20 World Cups within a year, was the best way forward.
And so when Australia surprisingly elected to bowl first at the Arnos Vale Stadium, where the previous three wins were etched out by teams defending totals, even as low as 106 and 115, Afghanistan were not quite unruffled as they fell back onto their group-stage XI. It was a unit that best exuded the strengths of Afghanistan even as their middle-order frailties laid bare open.
Openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran did not stutter even as Australia nailed down 25 dot balls within the Powerplay. The scoring shots, two effervescent straight sixes from Gurbaz off Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood and Zadran’s late charge in the sixth over with flashy fours on either side of the square, kept the engine room steady.
Marsh would toss in his variety of spins with Adam Zampa, Ashton Agar, and Glenn Maxwell between overs 7-10, but the openers sagely waded through at a run-a-ball rate for 24 runs. The three-figure mark took another 20 balls as the duo masked the middle-order as much as possible with their third 100-plus opening stand – the only pair to achieve at least one such partnership this tournament. Call it foresight or acute consciousness from the openers and the Afghan think tank, the side would freefall from 118 for no loss to 148 for six within 25 deliveries, including a second Pat Cummins hat-trick in succession.
The last thirty minutes of the innings would have boosted the Afghan seamers as the slower deliveries tossed in by Cummins with good effect were right up their alley.
The spirits would have been simmering when Naveen-ul-Haq’s first delivery to Travis Head reared away sharply from the brim of the left-hander’s off-stump. It only took an amendment in line. The slinging right-armer magically darted the ball inward and scuttled the ball towards the middle-and-leg stump two balls later, with Head’s swinging bat falling across the line. The 20-run cushion which Marsh highlighted also meant Naveen would not shy away from plotting dismissals by dangling a few carrots. A fuller delivery waltzed to the cover boundary, but Naveen’s angular smarts at the crease would allow an in-dipping slower ball on the off-stump, inviting a ballooning mis-hit from Marsh to the cover fielder.
In a trice, Australia were three down within the Powerplay in a progressively stifling chase, and the familiarities from Wankhede 2023 kicked back in. Glenn Maxwell was back up and running, admirably quelling the middle-overs venom from Rashid and Noor Ahmad. For once Maxwell was not alone as Marcus Stoinis strode along with firm sweeps off the spinners. Australia chugged along with the asking rate until the halfway mark, with Rashid ringing in as many as eight bowlers. Rashid’s final dial, Gulbadin Naib, proved to be the most decisive on a strip of uneven bounce.
Naib’s surprise bumper scalped Stoinis caught-behind before a clever back-of-a-length delivery would skim low onto the pads past a towering Tim David’s flick in his next over. Maxwell did not take any of it as he raised his half-century, a first since February, in 35 deliveries with a six off Naib.
But Arnos Vale was no Wankhede, and the niceties of the pitch had eventually died down. Maxwell lunged at a pace-on delivery from Naib through cover, only for it to clip the outside half and lob towards point, with Ahmad springing forward to scoop up a ball he would cling onto for life. Naib (4/20) capped off his momentous night by sending Cummins a taste of his own medicine – a cheeky slower one aimed at the base of the stumps.
149 amplified as an insurmountable task as the Afghan nous prevailed in bundling Australia for the first time in the tournament. It also brought the mighty side back to the mortal worlds of net run rates and equations. Fun time is effectively over for the all-star Australians on the Caribbean shores as they battle the possibility of losing out on the semifinals at the hands of India and rewarding Afghanistan with a chance to channel their destiny at the same venue on Tuesday.
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First uploaded on: 23-06-2024 at 09:30 IST
