Naib four-for sinks Australia for Afghanistan’s historic win

Pat Cummins had bagged a second consecutive hat-trick, but it would be overshadowed by Afghanistan’s big day.

Afghanistan 148 for 6 (Gurbaz 60, Ibrahim 51, Cummins 3-28, Zampa 2-28) beat Australia 127 (Maxwell 59, Gulbadin 4-20, Naveen 3-20) by 21 runs.

With a semi-final spot on the line, Australia’s top order was wiped out by Afghanistan’s seamers.

Glenn Maxwell then pulled off one trick shot after another to counter Afghanistan and leave them feeling a sense of déjà vu. One shovelled four off Azmatullah Omarzai had Maxwell grinning from ear to ear. After he brought up a 35-ball half-century, Maxwell put his thumbs-up to the Australia dressing room and looked set to secure their place in the final four and KO Afghanistan once again.

Gulbadin Naib, though, combined with Noor Ahmad to stop Maxwell on 59 off 41 balls and keep Afghanistan alive in this T20 World Cup. After Naib hid one away from Maxwell’s swinging arc, Noor pulled off a spectacular, low catch at backward point. Maxwell’s exit left Australia at 106 for 6 in the 15th over, still needing 43 off 32 balls on the St Vincent pitch that offered sharp turn and variable bounce.

Naib used those conditions to his advantage to come away with career-best T20I figures of 4 for 20 to help dismiss Australia for 127. Brought in as their eighth bowler, Naib took out Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David and Pat Cummins to headline Afghanistan’s famous victory, their first over Australia across formats.

Earlier, Cummins had bagged a hat-trick in consecutive World Cup games, and almost got four in four, but this was indeed Naib and Afghanistan’s day.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran struck up their third century stand in this tournament – they became the first pair to do so in any T20I series – to set Afghanistan up for a competitive total.

Both openers made half-centuries, leaving Australia waiting until the 16th over for a breakthrough. Never have Australia had to wait that long for a wicket in T20Is.

Gurbaz and Ibrahim had played out 21 dots in the first four overs in which they managed only 17. But in the next two overs they more than doubled the score, ending the powerplay on 40 for 0.

Gurbaz then jumped out of his crease and pumped Adam Zampa for a straight six while Ibrahim manufactured swinging room and crunched Ashton Agar over cover-point for four. Australia had picked the left-arm fingerspinner, ahead of Mitchell Starc, to match him up with a right-hander heavy Afghanistan line-up on a spin-friendly surface, but he went wicketless (4-1-17-0).

Gurbaz and Ibrahim largely played percentage shots to counter the conditions and Australia’s attack. Ibrahim could’ve been dismissed on 11 had Zampa not dropped a difficult chance in the outfield; he ended up parrying it away to the boundary. Ibrahim got another life on 32 when Stoinis shelled a return catch. Australia continued to be uncharacteristically sloppy in the field, and Afghanistan capitalised on the many missed chances.