Australia vs Afghanistan match highlights: Gulbadin Naib Shines as Afghanistan Defeats Australia by 21 Runs

Kingstown, June 22, 2024 – It really was a dramatic and nail-biting match at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup where Afghanistan stunned the cricketing world by defeating Australia by 21 runs. This match was played on Arnos Vale Ground and Gulbadin Naib became emerging Player of the Match for his exceptional all-round performance.

Australia vs Afghanistan match highlights: First Inning

Winning the toss Australia elected to bat first as they hoped to capitalize on some early breakthroughs. But Afghanistan’s openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran had some other plans as they destroys Australian’s plan of early wickets. Gurbaz played a briliant inning of 60 runs off 49 balls including four boundaries and four sixes and set the tone for Afghanistan’s innings. While his other partner Ibrahim zadran help him with his 51 runs off 48 deliveries.

Despite a few quick wickets in the middle order Afghanistan team managed to post a competitive total of 148 runs by losing 6 wickets in 20 overs. Pat Cummins again proves why he is considered in T20 world cup team as everyone was talking he is a Test and an ODI bowler. He took three wickets for 28 runs and achieving a hat-trick in the final overs. Rashid Khan, Karim Janat and Gulbadin Naib became his victims of final over. Pat Cummins became second player who took two hat-tricks in consecutive matches.

Australia vs Afghanistan match highlights: Second Inning

Chasing the target of 149 runs on Arnos Vale Ground could be a hard thing and thus happens this. Australia lose their important wicket of Travis head in a very first over. Naveen-ul-Haq got him on his 3rd delivery of first over and send him to pavilion on a duck.

After that Afghanistan’s bowlers maintained pressure with Naveen-ul-Haq and Gulbadin Naib dismantling the Australian top order. Glenn Maxwell was the only player for Australia who fight and score 59 runs off 41 balls with six boundaries and three sixes. Other than Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis no other could even score on double digit.

Gulbadin Naib brilliant bowling spell of 4/20 was the turning point of the inning as he claimed crucial wickets including Marcus Stoinis and Tim David. Naveen-ul-Haq speed up Gulbadin
Naib’s performance with figures of 3/20 and effectively sealed Australia’s fate. The Australians were ultimately bowled out for 127 in 19.2 overs falling short by 21 runs.

Turning Points and Key Performances

1. Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran’s Partnership: Their opening partnership of 118 runs laid a solid foundation for Afghanistan.
2. Pat Cummins’ Hat-trick: Although Pat Cummins was an exceptional individual but his efforts were insufficient to make up for Australia’s batting lineup’s.
3. Gulbadin Naib’s All-Round Show: He was named Player of the Match for his crucial wickets, economical bowling, and fielding performance.

Post-Match Reactions

“Thanks to dear Allah. We’ve waited for a long time. Big moment for our nation and our people. I have no words to say but thanks to the fans who have supported us in our career and cricket journey. I learnt from the batting innings on how to bowl. Thanks to Rashid for trusting me. It’s a whole team effort, Rahmanullah, Zadran, and also Naveen for the momentum. Thank God we finally beat Australia. It is a great achievement for Afghanistan, we have achieved many things in last ten years but this is a big achievement. In the last World Cup we played well and in this World Cup we beat New Zealand too. Australia are a champion side so for us it is a big tournament. Lucky to have this kind of team and management. At the start of the tournament, we focused on each game. Every game is important for us. Bangladesh are a good team, we can rest tomorrow and we’ll think about it.” He also says mubarak to his fans in Pashto along with a personalised message.

Gulbadin Naib expressed his delight

“They got 20 too many. And to be honest they played a really good game of cricket. We were outplayed tonight. (On not batting first, based on ground stats) We did think about it. Lot of teams have bowled first at this World Cup to get an idea of the surface. Don’t think we lost at the toss. It was an off-night for us in the field, and we own that. We’ll be back next game. It wasn’t an easy wicket but both teams played on this surface. (India next…) First and foremost it becomes clear for us. We need to win and no better team to do it against. Full credit to Afghanistan for tonight and we move on quickly.”

Australia’s Captain post match Interview

 “It’s a massive win for us as a team and nation. Beating Australia is a great feeling. It is something we missed out, in 2023 ODI World Cup and also the 2022 World Cup in Australia. Quite important for us that we went back to the same XI. But also its about the opposition, we wanted to post our best XI, that’s why we had made changes in the India game. But today we went back to the same XI as the group stage and top effort. We thought 140 was a good score on this track. We didn’t finish well with the bat, but on this pitch, you can always struggle, and we struggled at the end. However the start given by them, it helped us post this total. We knew we were capable of defending as long as we stayed calm. That’s the beauty of the team, so many allrounders give you option. When you give him the ball, he is happy to receive it. The way Gulbadin bowled, his experience, that really helped today. Overall great effort by the boys. Nabi’s crucial early wicket of Warner… pleasing to see. So important for us at home and our fans around the world. Wherever Afghans are, they were badly missing this win. It’s just the beginning for us. We have all the chances of making the semis.”

Afghanistan’s Captain post match Interview

Australia vs Afghanistan T20 World Cup 2024 Full Scorecard