Australia’s T20 World Cup hopes hit hard by historic defeat to Afghanistan

Australia was unexpectedly defeated by Afghanistan by 21 runs, putting their chances of reaching the semi-finals at the 2024 T20 World Cup at risk.

Mitch Marsh's team was disappointed after missing five catches during the fielding on Sunday and then struggling with a score of 32-3 in the powerplay on a challenging St Vincent pitch. Despite chasing a target of 149, Australia was dismissed for 127 with four balls left in the final over.

The 2021 champions suffered their first defeat to Afghanistan, with openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz scoring 60 runs off 49 balls and Ibrahim Zadran scoring 51 runs off 48 balls. They managed to stand firm on a challenging pitch, leading to a partnership of 118 runs – the highest ever opening partnership against Australia in T20 matches.

In his second consecutive game, Pat Cummins scored three wickets, helping Australia regain control. Karim Janat (13), Rashid Khan (2), and Gulbadin Naib (0) were all dismissed by the sharp bowler, as Afghanistan could only reach 148-6.

Glenn Maxwell showed signs of improvement with his batting by scoring 59 runs off 41 balls. He was looking to continue his success against Afghanistan, after scoring a double-century against them at the World Cup last year. However, Afghanistan sensed victory when Maxwell was caught by Noor Ahmad at backward point off the bowling of player-of-the-match Naib, who finished with figures of 4-20.

The defeat puts Australia in a position where they may need to depend on net run-rate to reach the semi-finals, even if they manage to defeat India in their upcoming Super Eight match, which kicks off at 12:30am AEST on Tuesday.

"It's obvious now that we simply need to secure a win," Marsh stated before the important match against India, who have emerged victorious in their first two matches in the group. "There's no team we'd rather defeat, as they are one of the toughest challenges in international cricket."

We will stay optimistic, tonight was not our best night, Afghanistan deserves all the credit, they were excellent. We will continue moving forward.

Afghanistan's impressive win keeps their dream of reaching the semi-finals alive as they prepare to take on Bangladesh in their third Super Eight match.

"We are thrilled with our victory in the World Cup against the reigning champions. It's an amazing feeling for our team and our country," shared Rashid Khan, the captain of Afghanistan. "I'm incredibly proud of all the players."

"Tonight, I am so happy that I don't think I will be able to fall asleep," Khan stated. "The entire team and our country are filled with joy. This victory is huge for us, both as a team and as a nation."

Cricket brings the most joy to our community, that is a well-known fact. It is truly a blessing to be able to bring happiness to our loved ones through this sport.

Australia missed five opportunities in the field after winning the toss. The first two chances came during a strong opening partnership. Gurbaz and Zadran caused chaos as they batted. Matthew Wade missed a simple stumping chance, and Ashton Agar, who replaced Mitchell Starc in the lineup, made two misfields that led to boundaries for the opposition.

Marcus Stoinis finally got a breakthrough after missing an earlier opportunity. Gurbaz was caught by David Warner at deep backward square leg. This wicket came in the 16th over, making it the longest Australia had gone without taking a wicket in a T20 international match.

The top two bowlers for Australia in this tournament, Adam Zampa and Cummins, made sure that Afghanistan's batting lineup couldn't recover after the opening partnership was broken. Zampa took 2 wickets for 28 runs while Cummins also contributed to the team's success.

Cummins made history by achieving hat-tricks in back-to-back T20 games. In the final over, Gulbadin, who had not scored any runs, hit a shot that was caught by Maxwell at deep midwicket. Cummins almost took another wicket on the next ball, but Warner couldn't hold on to the catch at deep point.

Naveen-ul-Haq (3-20) proved that it was a good choice to have Afghanistan start their innings with fast bowling. He bowled a great delivery that knocked Travis Head's middle stump out, getting him out for 0. At the start of the innings, losing Head and Mitch Marsh (12) quickly put Australia in a tough position. Things got even more worrisome for Australia when Afghanistan brought spin into play for the first time.

David Warner was caught out after hitting 3 runs off Mohammad Nabi's first ball to short fine leg. This allowed Maxwell to once again be a threat to Afghanistan. However, after Maxwell's strong performance ended, Australia was left relying on their bowlers and struggling to finish with a score of 106-6.

In Australia's last over, they needed 24 runs to win. Azmatullah Omarzai secured the win by hitting Zampa's delivery to Nabi at long on with only four balls left in the match.