Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan played an impressive cameo with the bat, helping his team post a challenging total of 291/5 against Australia in the 2023 World Cup match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Tuesday (November 7). In just 18 balls, Rashid smashed an unbeaten 35 runs, including three sixes and two boundaries. His powerful hitting in the final over of Afghanistan’s innings, where he struck two sixes and a boundary against Mitchell Starc, added valuable runs to the team’s total. Rashid also shared an unbeaten partnership of 59 runs with centurion Ibrahim Zadran for the sixth wicket.
Australia now faces the task of chasing their highest total in World Cups if they want to secure a victory against Afghanistan. Fans on social media platforms praised Rashid Khan for his exceptional batting performance, with one user stating, “Match made competitive by Rashid Khan’s cameo. Australia to chase record 292 at Wankhede.”
Ibrahim Zadran played a clinical innings, contributing significantly to Afghanistan’s total of 291/5. He scored an unbeaten 129 runs off 143 balls, which included three sixes and eight boundaries. With this century, Zadran became the first-ever Afghanistan player to achieve this feat in ODI World Cups. Rahmat Shah and captain Hashmatullah Shahidi also made valuable contributions with scores of 30 (44) and 26 (43), respectively. Azmatullah Omarzai and Rahmanullah Gurbaz added quick runs with scores of 22 (18) and 21 (25), respectively.
Josh Hazlewood emerged as the pick of the Australian bowlers, taking 2/39, while Mitchell Starc, Glenn Maxwell, and Adam Zampa settled for one wicket each. Afghanistan, coming off the back of a hat-trick of wins against Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the Netherlands, drew inspiration from their victory over defending champions England earlier in the tournament. A win in this match would further strengthen their chances of qualifying for the semifinals. Their final league game will be against South Africa at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on November 10.
On the other hand, Australia has registered five consecutive wins after losing their first two games against India and South Africa. A victory against Afghanistan would secure their spot in the semifinals. Pat Cummins and his team will face Bangladesh in their last league game at the MCA Stadium in Pune on November 11.
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