Afghanistan stuns Australia to keep Twenty20 World Cup dream alive

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent (AP) — Afghanistan kept their Twenty20 World Cup semi-final hopes alive by beating previously unbeaten Australia by 21 runs in a thrilling encounter on Saturday.

Despite a second consecutive hat-trick from Australian bowler Pat Cummins, Afghanistan scored 148-6 after being asked to bat first on a tricky delivery at the Arnos Vale Ground.

Afghan duo Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran scored 118 for the highest opening partnership against Australia in a T20 match before the Australian bowlers rallied late, including Cummins’ second career hat-trick – just two days after his first.

Australia then stumbled with the bat and were all out for 127, with only Glenn Maxwell (59 off 41 balls) coming to grips with Afghanistan’s superb bowling attack and spinning wicket.

Man of the match Guldabin Naib took four wickets in an inspired spell in the middle overs to halt Australia’s chase before Azmatullah Omarzai had the final wicket. Adam Zampa was caught deep in the final to complete a stunning victory amid jubilant celebrations among the Afghan players and team management.

“It’s a huge win for us as a team and as a nation at the World Cup by beating the champions,” said captain Rashid Khan.

“It’s so important for us at home, for everyone around the world, where the Afghans of Afghanistan are there, you know, they miss this victory dearly and I’m sure they would have been so proud of it and they enjoyed it would have the game and I think this is just the beginning for us,” he added.

The win moves Afghanistan to two points in Group 1 and level with Australia but behind in net run rate. India leads the group on four points. Bangladesh are at the bottom after two defeats, but still have a chance to qualify for the semi-finals.

The final group rankings will be determined on Monday when Afghanistan plays Bangladesh in St. Vincent and Australia plays India in St. Lucia on Monday.

Earlier, Gurbaz scored 60 off 49 balls while Zadran made a steady 51 off 48 balls as they laid a solid platform – aided by uncharacteristically poor fielding from Australia.

Marcus Stoinis finally made the breakthrough in the 16th over to remove Gurbaz, leading to a flurry of wickets as the momentum shifted.

Adam Zampa (2-28) took two wickets in the next over, including that of Zadran, before Pat Cummins came to the fore again.

The seam bowler had Rashid Khan (two) caught in the deep by Tim David with the last ball from the 18th over.

Cummins (3-28) returned to bowl the final over of the innings and with his first ball Karim Janat (13) was caught again by David.

For the hat-trick ball, Cummins cleverly disguised a slower delivery that Guldabin Naib could only loft to Glenn Maxwell who ran in from the boundary to claim the catch.

Australia stumbled early in the chase when they lost Travis Head, bowled by Naveen-ul-Haq, without scoring with the third ball of the innings.

Captain Mitchell Marsh (12) played two big shots before Naveen’s second wicket and when David Warner (three) was out on spinner Mohammad Nabi’s first ball, the Aussies found themselves in trouble at 32-3 in the sixth over .

Stoinis and Maxwell steadied the Australian innings as they reached 70-3 at the halfway point.

Gulbadin (4-20) was the eighth bowler used by Afghanistan in the first 11 overs and it yielded an almost immediate win as Stoinis could only hit a pull shot that was caught by Gurbaz.

Gulbadin then removed David (two) and when the all-rounder had Maxwell spectacularly caught by Noor Ahmad an upset win looked likely.

Australia’s lower order batters also couldn’t find the big hits the moment demanded and when veteran Nabi took a catch on the boundary to dismiss Zampa (nine), Afghanistan’s deserved win was confirmed.