Skipper Rashid Khan oozed pride after Afghanistan beat Australia by 21 runs in the T20 World Cup 2024 Super 8 match at the Arnos Vale Ground in Kingstown, St Vincent. It also happened to be their maiden victory over the Aussies at the international level after 4 ODIs and 2 T20Is. With the triumph, the Afghans also kept alive their hopes of making their way through to the semi-final of the mega event.
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Gulbadin Naib won the Player of the Match award after he finished with figures of 4-0-20-4. He also picked up the wicket of Glenn Maxwell, who scored 59 runs and threatened to take the match away from the Afghans. After the win, Rashid lauded his teammates for going past the finish line against the 2021 champions.
“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,” Rashid said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
‘Opening partnership gave us best start’
After losing to India, the Afghans made a couple of changes. They brought in Nangeyalia Kharote and Karim Janat and left out Hazratullah Zazai and Najibullah Zadran. Rashid said that Afghanistan have tried to be flexible with their playing XI.
After being asked to bat first, Afghanistan scored 148 for 6 on the back of half-centuries from Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran. Thereafter, they bowled Australia out for 127 in 19.2 overs. Rashid also lauded the dup for their 118-run partnership for the opening wicket.
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“Quite important for us that we went back with the same playing XI. We’re reading the opposition bowling line-up and selecting XI accordingly. 140 was a good total on this wicket. We didn’t finish as well as we should have,” Rashid said.
“Opening partnership gave us best start. On this wicket, anything 130-plus, we were capable of defending it as long as we kept calm and had the belief. That’s the beauty of this team, having all-rounders and having options,” he added.
Afghanistan’s last match in the Super 8 is against Najmul Hossain Shanto’s Bangladesh at the same venue on Monday, June 24 (Tuesday, June 25 in India).