Gulbadin Naib was Afghanistan’s man with the golden arm, bowling his team to a surprise 21-run victory over previously unbeaten Australia in their Group One Super Eight encounter in the T20 World Cup at the Arnos Vale Stadium on Saturday.
Set a target of 149, Glenn Maxwell had the test and One-Day champions on course until he became Gulbadin’s third wicket in the 15th over, opening the door to a result which kept the duel for semifinal spots alive going into the final two fixtures in the group on Monday.
A top score of 60 off 49 balls by Gurbaz and 51 off 48 balls from Zadran gave the Afghans an excellent platform of 118 – their third century partnership of the tournament – by the 16th over. Yet it was Cummins, who claimed a hat-trick against Bangladesh in Antigua on Thursday, who essentially switched off the Afghanistan innings with the wicket of Rashid Khan at the end of the 18th over before adding Karim Janat and eventual hero Gulbadin at the start of the 20th over.
In reflecting on a historic night for his team, Rashid acknowledged the reward of returning to the opening pair of Gurbaz and Zadran.
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