Gulbadin Naib helped Afghanistan overpower favourite Australia by 21-run in a Super 8s stage Group 1 match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 in Kingstown.
Chasing a 149-run target for victory, Australia lost three top-order batters on 32 runs inside the powerplay. Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis put the team back on track by stitching a 39-run partnership. After that, Australia kept losing wickets at regular intervals and were all out at 127 in 19.2 overs.
Glenn Maxwell was the top scorer with 59 runs followed by skipper Mitchell Marsh who made 12. Marcus Stoinis scored 11 runs. No other batter could enter the double figures. Player of the match Gulbadin Naib bagged four wickets and Naveen-ul-Haq had three while Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi and skipper Rashid Khan took one wicket each.
Earlier, Afghanistan scored 148/6 in the allocated 20 overs after a 118-run opening partnership between Rehmanullah Gurbaz (60) and Ibrahim Zadran (51). Karim Janat scored 13 and Mohammad Nabi 10 runs. Pat Cummins took three wickets, Adam Zampa two and Marcus Stoinis had one wicket.
