Afghanistan stun Australia with 21-run win in Super 8 clash

Afghanistan stunned Australia by 21 runs in a Super 8 clash of the ongoing T20 World Cup on Sunday (June 23) at Kingstown, St. Vincent.

This is the first time that Afghanistan have defeated Australian in a cricket match.

It’s a result that throws open the Group 1 which also includes India and Bangladesh. Australia take on India in the final match of the Super 8 with their qualification into the semi-final on the line.

Afghanistan managed to survive a blitz with the bat from Glenn Maxwell who scored 59 from 41 balls and a hat-trick from Pat Cummins, who took a hat-trick for the second successive game.

Earlier, Australia’s Mitchell Marsh had puzzled everyone by his decision to bowl first after winning the toss as experts had predicted that captains would choose to bat first at this venue.

Afghanistan had managed to give a good account of themselves batting first, reaching the halfway stage of the 10-over mark with all 10 wickets in hand. It was Rahmanullah Gurbaz (36 not out) and Ibrahim Zadran (22 not out) who chose to opt for prudence over flash, taking Afghanistan to 64/0 at the innings’ midway point. They used that to propel themselves to a total of 148/6 despite a hat-trick from Pat Cummins.