Australia needed a massive win over Afghanistan on Friday if they were to move ahead of England on net run-rate and also create a bit of a buffer to allow for a narrow England victory over Sri Lanka on Saturday. Instead, they were left scrambling to save the game as Rashid Khan gave them a very real scare at Adelaide Oval, his home ground in the Big Bash League. In the end, Rashid’s unbeaten 48 off 23 wasn’t enough, and Australia scraped through by a mere four runs. The hosts will now hope Sri Lanka beat England or else their T20 World Cup title defence will be over in the group stage itself.
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A narrow win for Australia keeps their net run rate in the negative! 👀
If England beat Sri Lanka tomorrow, the hosts would miss a semi-final spot 😯#T20WorldCup 2022 Standings 👉 https://t.co/cjmWWRz68E#AUSvAFG pic.twitter.com/qCPzYznAz9
— ICC (@ICC) November 4, 2022
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The spotlight may have been on the defending champions but the stars of the evening were to be the plucky Afghans. Having sat twiddling their thumbs for ten days amid successive washouts against New Zealand and Ireland – Afghanistan were the only team in the tournament to have two games rained away – they produced a controlled bowling performance to restrict Australia to 168 and had backed it up with the bat at 99 for 2 after 13 overs.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz first and then Gulbadin Naib had struck some clean boundaries to keep Afghanistan firmly in the hunt. It was a situation not dissimilar to Bangladesh’s against India after Litton Das’ opening blitz. And then something similar happened to break Afghanistan’s rhythm as well.
Like KL Rahul had, Glenn Maxwell fired in a direct hit from the same position, deep midwicket, to catch a diving Gulbadin short at the non-striker’s end. And Afghanistan promptly imploded, throwing away another three wickets in the space of eight deliveries to slide to 103 for 6.
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Ibrahim Zadran top-edged a sweep off Adam Zampa to short fine leg; Najibullah Zadran charged and completely mishit Zampa off the second ball he faced, offering a dolly to long-off; even skipper Mohammad Nabi didn’t learn, awkwardly swinging Josh Hazlewood straight to deep square leg second ball.
As the equation started to become steeper and steeper, the match seemed to be heading towards a tame, foregone conclusion. But Rashid brought it to life in the last 14 deliveries. Either slogging over deep midwicket or whacking it over long-off, he hit successive sixes off Kane Richardson at the end of the 18th to bring it down to 33 needed off 12. Richardson had been chosen ahead of Mitchell Starc, who hasn’t quite set the T20 World Cup alight but hasn’t had a nightmare either, with three wickets in three games at an economy-rate of 8.50. Richardson would end up going for 48 from four.
Hazlewood kept Rashid to 11 from the penultimate over, but with only all-rounders Marcus Stoinis and Cameron Green available for the last over, stand-in skipper Matthew Wade – Aaron Finch was out injured – was to have a “pretty nerve-wracking” time as he handed the ball to Stoinis. “I played him in the IPL and have seen him do it 3-4 times, but never felt entirely sure at any point,” Wade admitted later.
Stoinis bowled a collection of back-of-the-hand slower ones and off-cutters, but with three sixes needed off three balls, Rashid connected off the first, sending it soaring over deep square leg. He’d only manage a couple and a four off the last two balls, though, and Australia finally breathed easy.
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Just like their bowling effort, Australia had huffed and puffed through their batting innings. Afghanistan had sent them in after winning the toss, forcing them to come out swinging at everything. But despite their labours, Australia had found themselves three down at the end of the Powerplay.
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It would have been four down off the first ball of the seventh over from Gulbadin, had Najibullah held on to a travelling chance off Mitchell Marsh’s bat at backward point. Marsh hit three consecutive boundaries in Gulbadin’s next to make 45 off 30. However, even he was gone just after the halfway mark, and it came down to Glenn Maxwell to keep the runs flowing in the middle overs.
And even as Stoinis struggled against spin, falling to Rashid for 25 off 21, Maxwell carved his way to a half-century off 29 balls with his reverse-sweeps, slogs, slaps and pulls.
Australia continued to lose wickets at the other end, though, and even Maxwell could not connect as many as he would have liked at the death. The Afghan seamers Fazalhaq Farooqi and Naveen-ul-Haq were superb, conceding just 25 runs off the last four overs. Bowling slow and tight or getting it full and right under the bat, the duo made it very difficult for the Australians to find any timing on their heaves.
“I thought Afghanistan bowled really well. We’d have liked a few more with the situation that we are in. I think it’s probably a par score,” Marsh would say during the innings break.
🔁 INNINGS CHANGE@imnaveenulhaq (3/21) and @fazalfarooqi10 (2/29) led the bowling attack with some excellent spells as Australia put 168/8 on the board in the 20 overs.
Let’s back the bowling effort with the bat 👍#AfghanAtalan | #T20WorldCup | #SuperCola | #AFGvAUS pic.twitter.com/qfFKnPpSfL
— Afghanistan Cricket Board (@ACBofficials) November 4, 2022
To add to Australia’s woes, the pitch now didn’t appear to hold up as much as it had when they batted. They did regroup with a clutch of wickets, but when Rashid began his late assault, Wade looked a worried man. Australia will hang on in Adelaide for another day to watch Sri Lanka take on England at the Sydney Cricket Ground, and pray their oldest rivals lose.
