History was created on Sunday (IST) when Afghanistan stunned mighty Australia by 21 runs in their World Cup 2024 Super 8 T20 match at Kingstown. Asked to bat first, the Afghans were restricted to 148/6 despite a 118-run partnership between openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran. Chasing 149, Australia lost early wickets but Glenn Maxwell brought them back into the game with this 59-run knock. Maxwell, who previously denied Afghanistan a historic victory during the 2023 ODI World Cup, was leading Australia to another memorable victory. But this time, the Afghans recovered and defeated Australia for 127.
This was Afghanistan’s first victory over Australia in six international matches. As Afghanistan recorded historic victory, social media was flooded with many well wishes and messages from fans of Rashid Khan and co.
Not this time, Australians – Take a bow, Afghan boys#INDvsBAN #AUSvsAFG #AFGvsAUS pic.twitter.com/9SbsSVWZSg
– TCTV Cricket (@tctv1offl) June 23, 2024
These boys defeated the 6 time world champions. Take a bow, huge respect to the Afghanistan cricket team.#AFGvsAUS pic.twitter.com/JsDcHMaSE5
– Prayag (@theprayagtiwari) June 23, 2024
Dil Dil Afghanistan!!!
We are witnessing a paradigm shift in the World Order of Cricket!!What night! Congratulations to all the Afghan brothers!! They really deserved it.
Beating the Australians in a World Cup is a colossal achievement!!#AFGvsAUS @Attaullahsapi @WazhmaAyoubi pic.twitter.com/Wiq9AV4PAb
– Dr. June 23, 2024
Alright Afghanistan afg vs aus #AfgvsAus pic.twitter.com/0IMrmQGK9k
-Anshul Bahuguna (@AnshulBahuguna2) June 23, 2024
Wherever I said Afghanistan would beat Australia in Super 8 everyone laughed at me Now Afghanistan beat Australia
Very happy for Afghanistan
First time in history Afghanistan beat Australia #AusvsAfg #AFGvsAus pic.twitter.com/98b1FWX9iZ-Cric Irfan (@Irfan_irru_17) June 23, 2024
In addition to Gurbaz and Zadran’s partnership, it was the players’ contributions that led Afghanistan to victory. Pacer Gulbadin Naib was the star bowler with his magnificent four-wicket haul.
“We have been waiting for a long time. Great moment for me, my nation, my people. Great achievement for our cricket. Thank you to our fans for supporting our cricket journey. We have worked hard for the last 2 months and the result is in front of you .The wicket was not easy to bat, the ball was very bouncy. I took two wickets early and continued with it later,” Naib said after the win.
“Thanks to Rashid for trusting me. This was a complete team effort. The way Naveen played, the way Gurbaz and Ibrahim batted. We finally beat Australia! It’s a great achievement for Afghanistan cricket, our history is not very big. this is a great achievement. We played great cricket in the last World Cup and this year we beat New Zealand in the group stage,” he added.
Apart from him, Naveen-ul-Haq scalped three wickets while Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai and Rashid Khan also scalped one wicket each.
With this victory, Afghanistan stayed alive in the semi-final race. They will now face Bangladesh in their final Super 8 clash on Tuesday.
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This story originally appeared on ndtv.com read the full story
