5 key highlights from Afghanistan's historic win over Australia

Another 100-plus stand for Gurbaz, Zadran

The two-paced surface at Arnos Vale Ground in St Vincent wasn’t easy for batting but Afghanistan openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (60 off 49) and Ibrahim Zadran (51 off 48) batted out of their skins after Australia surprisingly asked them to bat first. 

The two put on 118 runs and became the first opening pair to stitch three 100-plus partnerships in a single edition of the T20 World Cup. No other opening pair has managed a 100-run stand so far in this tournament. 

Cummins help Australia make a comeback

Afghanistan were 118 for no loss after 15.4 overs but lost six wickets in the 26 deliveries. They could only score 29 runs in the last four overs and were restricted to 148/6, still an above-total on this surface.

For Australia, Pat Cummins created history. The Australian paceman dismissed Rashid Khan, Karim Janat and Gulbadin Naib off consecutive deliveries and became the first bowler to take two hat-tricks in the T20 World Cup history.  

Naveen strikes twice in powerplay

Afghanistan had enough runs on the board but still needed a couple of early wickets. Skipper Rashid Khan gave the first over to Naveen-ul-Haq and the seamer knocked over Travis Head for a duck to give Afghanistan an outstanding start.

Naveen then outfoxed Australian captain Mitchell Marsh with a slower delivery in his next over and reduced Australia to 16/2 inside three overs.

Maxwell vs Afghanistan 2.0

Everyone knows what Glenn Maxwell did to Afghanistan in the last ODI World Cup and for a while, it looked like the history would repeat itself.

Australia were 32/3 before the powerplay, but that’s when out-of-form Maxwell returned to his best and smashed 59 off 41 deliveries. It looked like he would once again take Australia over the line but Noor Ahmad took a sharp catch at backward point to turn the game in Afghanistan’s favour.

Gulbadin Naib wins it for Afghanistan

You can’t keep Gulbadin Naib out of the game. The right-arm seamer came in as the eighth bowling option and almost single-handedly sealed the game for Afghanistan in the second innings.

The right-arm seamer got rid of Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Maxwell and Pat Cummins to finish with career-best figures of 4/20. Australia eventually fell short by 21 runs, and Afghanistan now have a serious chance of making it through to the semis.

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