Chasing a target of 292 runs, the Australian camp was devastated by Afghan bullets one after the other. The five-time world champions are in trouble after losing four top-order batsmen before 10 overs.
Afghan pacer Naveen Ul Haq struck the first blow in the Aji camp. On the second ball of the innings and the second ball of his first over, he sent opener Travis Head back to the dressing room. He returned without scoring any runs in 2 balls.
After that Navin hit again. This time he returned Michelle Marsh who came to bat at number three. Marsh is trapped LBW.
After that, Azmatullah Omarzai directly bowled out another opener, David Warner, in the first ball of the eighth over of the innings. Azmatullah struck again with the second ball. He caught out Josh English who had just come into bat.
As a result, the chance of a hat trick came in front of Azmatullah. The potential was also created. His third ball was bowled behind the wicket by Australian hard hitter Glenn Maxwell. But he could not palm the ball as it fell slightly in front of the wicketkeeper.
As of writing this report, the Australians have lost 4 wickets from 11 overs. Marnus Labuschenne is batting for 11 runs. At the other end, Glenn Maxwell is on 2 runs.
Earlier, Afghanistan gave Australia a target of 292 runs based on Ibrahim Zadran’s century and Rashid Khan’s batting at the end. They collected 291 runs after losing 5 wickets from the allotted 50 overs.
This is the eighth match between Australia and Afghanistan in the ongoing ODI World Cup. The match started at 2:30 PM at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Tuesday.
On this day, Afghan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi decided to bat after winning the tom. The two Afghan openers, Rahmatullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran, watched the Auji bowlers from the beginning.
But Gurbaz could not stay at the crease for long. He returned to 21 runs. But Ibrahim Zadran’s bat continues to be consistent. No Aussie bowler could get him out in the end. As a result, he picked up the fifth century of his career.
Ibrahim Zadran scored 129 runs off 143 balls that day. Out of which 8 fours and three sixes were hit. Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi and Azmatullah Omarzai gave some support to Jadran. They scored 30, 26 and 22 runs respectively.
At the end, Rashid Khan stormed with Jadren. He scored 35 runs off just 18 balls. The batsman hits two fours and three massive sixes. As a result, the Afghan innings stopped at 291 runs for 5 wickets.
Meanwhile, right-arm pacer Josh Hazlehood took the maximum two wickets for the Australian bowlers. Mitchell Starc, Glenn Maxwell and Adam Zampa got one wicket each. Starc (9/70) scored the highest runs.
(07 November/AJ)