Aus vs Afg: With a nail-biting four-run victory over Afghanistan on Friday, Glenn Maxwell hit an undefeated half-century to keep Australia in the running for the Twenty20 World Cup semifinals.
The result ensured that New Zealand, which overcame Ireland in the day’s opening match in Adelaide, would claim a spot in the tournament’s final four from Group 1. The hosts and defending champions Australia now need England to lose their final Super 12 match against Sri Lanka on Saturday in order to proceed to the semifinals. Maxwell’s 32-ball 54 at the Adelaide Oval assisted Australia in reaching 168-8, a total that their bowlers successfully defended by limiting the Afghans to 164-7.
With an unbeaten 48 off 23 balls, Rashid Khan easily defeated the chase. He then scored 16 runs in Marcus Stoinis’ penultimate over to keep the home crowd on the edge of their seats practically till the very end.
Prior to being given the opportunity to bat first, Australia had hamstring injuries to captain Aaron Finch, vice-captain Tim David, and speed bowler Mitchell Starc.
With the wickets of David Warner for 28 and the returning Steve Smith for 4, Naveen-ul-Haq shook Australia’s top order. He gave back fantastic numbers of 3-21.
The left-handed Warner came out strong and smacked spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman for three consecutive boundaries in the second over of the match.
After losing his fellow opener Cameron Green to Fazalhaq Farooqi in the next over, who also grabbed two wickets, Mitchell Marsh, who hit 45 off 30 balls, maintained the onslaught.
After Warner was hit by Naveen’s fastball, Smith was cheaply out after four balls.
Marsh made an effort to counter with six and two fours against Gulbadin Naib, but he was unable to capitalise on them and was left behind by Mujeeb’s mysterious spin.
In the victory over Sri Lanka, Maxwell and Stoinis, who had previously hit Australia’s quickest T20 50 — in 17 balls — had things going against the Afghan bowlers, but Rashid Khan eventually broke through.
As Afghanistan made progress, Stoinis blasted Rashid for a six over midwicket but left after only 25 deliveries.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz overpowered the Australian bowlers to start the response. He got two four- and six-run hits off Josh Hazlewood in the opening over of the chase.
Hazlewood dismissed Usman Ghani for two runs, while Gurbaz—who had been substituted by Starc for the important game—was dismissed by Kane Richardson in the third over.
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