In order to maintain the possibility of going to the semi-finals of the World Cup, Afghanistan put up a big collection of 291 runs with the century of the opener Ibrahim Zadran and the stormy batting of Rashid Khan. Hashmatullah Shahidi’s team scored 92 runs in the last 10 overs. Australia need 292 runs to win.
Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi won the toss and elected to bat first at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Tuesday (November 7). The two openers, Ibrahim and Rahmanullah Gurbaz, got off to bat. However, Gurbaz was caught by Mitchell Starc while blasting Josh Hazlewood’s ball at deep square leg. As a result, this Afghan batsman returned to the dressing room after scoring 21 runs.
Then Ibrahim repaired the innings with the new batsman Rahmat Shah who came to the wicket. In the third wicket, these two made a pair of 83 runs. However, Glenn Maxwell broke this pair by returning mercy. Rahmat was caught by Joss Hazlewood at long off for 30 runs off 44 balls.
Ibrahim again made a partnership of 52 runs with captain Shahidi for the fourth wicket. However, Shahidi’s innings of 26 runs ended after he was bowled by Mitchell Starc. Azmatullah Omarzai, who was playing aggressively at the wicket, got out while being too aggressive with the jumper ball. 22 runs came from his bat.
After Mohammad Nabi returned with 12 runs, Ibrahim formed a great partnership with Rashid Khan. The unbroken 58-run stand came from just 28 balls. Rashid played a cameo innings of 35 runs with 2 fours and 3 sixes in 18 balls with Ibrahim in great company. On the other hand, Ibrahim was unbeaten on 129 runs with the help of 3 sixes and 8 fours. As a result, Afghanistan scored 291 runs for 5 wickets at the end of the scheduled 50 overs.
Josh Hazlewood took maximum 2 wickets for Australia. Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa and Glenn Maxwell also took one wicket each.