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Afghanistan impress but Australia keep slim hopes alive
Following their narrow win against Afghanistan, the defending champions’ WC campaign will end unless Sri Lanka can upset England on Saturday
On top of his mark to bowl the 14th over, his last of the innings, Adam Zampa is twirling the ball in the air as leg-spinners often do. There’s an air of confidence in Zampa’s demeanor. He’s been Australia’s most productive bowler in the competition. But his team hadn’t responded with the desperation this match demanded. Australia is chasing a big win to boost their run rate, but Afghanistan - yes, it’s the unfairness of cricket scheduling – in their first-ever T20I face-off with the defending champions threatening to send them packing, then and there at Adelaide on Friday.
That’s when Glenn Maxwell first, with a moment of fielding magic, and then Zampa struck. Requiring 9-an-over with 8 wickets in hand and a dangerous third wicket partnership blossoming, Maxwell ran in from the deep boundary to mid-wicket and produced a direct hit with a single-handed pick-up-and-throw, to end Gulbadin Naib’s 39 (23b) stay.
On the very next ball, Afghanistan’s inexperience showed as the other set batter Ibrahim Zadran 26 (33b) top-edged a flighted leg-break to short fine leg. In the same over, Najibullah Zadran, blind to the tactical upsides of seeing Zampa’s spell through, tried to clear long-off and failed, gifting Australia their third wicket of the over. If that wasn’t bad enough, Afghanistan skipper Mohammed Nabi, who stepped down as Afghanistan skipper after the game, holed out in the next over to the deep square-leg boundary. Afghanistan were reduced to 103/6; losing 4 wickets for 4 runs and with that most of their hopes of an upset win.
But one man in the Afghanistan camp - their most influential cricketer Rashid Khan, still believed. Playing on his Big Bash home turf, the Adelaide Strikers superstar came out in a belligerent mood, and blazed his way to 48* (23b, 3x4, 4x6) as his side finished only 4 runs short and Afghanistan was left pondering if they blundered by sending Rashid out to bat as late as No 8, overlooking his experience and ground familiarity with the short square boundaries.
Australia played this match without many of their key players – captain Aaron Finch and Tim David were out injured and Mitchell Starc was surprisingly left out. None of the replacements – Cameroon Green, Steve Smith and Kane Richardson were able to make much of an impact. Australia aiming for 200 plus to try an edge England out on run-rate in the race for the semi-finals, were restricted to 168 by Naveen-ul-Haq and Fazalhaq Farooqi’s smart medium-pace.
Australia’s batting innings was largely guided by Maxwell 54* (32) who took charge at the halfway mark. But he could have done with more game time and more support. David Warner began with a real sense of purpose; Mitch Marsh got in some big hits of his own but neither of them could drive home the advantage. That’s been Australia’s story, so far. They had begun the tournament as everyone’s favourites but the pomp and show hasn't been there to see.
“We have been slow off the blocks in this tournament. Hopefully, it doesn’t cost us,” stand-in skipper Matthew Wade said after the match.
It now boils down to the England-Sri Lanka match on Saturday, where Australia would want the Asians to down their old enemy and gift them a semi-final ticket. “Hopefully, Sri Lanka can do the job for us,” said Maxwell. “We will be there at some pub somewhere, watching. The beers will be flowing, if we win. We will either be out (of the tournament) or there celebrating.”
