
At the Wankhede Stadium, Australia and Afghanistan squared off in a match that was vital to both sides. A few adjustments were made to each team’s starting lineup. Afghanistan substituted Naveen-ul-Haq for Fazalhaq Farooqi, and Australia substituted Mitchell Marsh and Glenn Maxwell for Steven Smith and Cameron Green. Afghanistan scored 291 runs in the first innings. Here is a recap of the innings.
Afghanistan started cautiously in the powerplay
In his opening over, Mitchell Starc showed some swing and gave up five runs. On the other end, Josh Hazlewood bowled an over that scored one run. Ibrahim Zadran hit a cover drive for a four in the third over, the first boundary of the game. In the next over, Rahmanullah Gurbaz hit a four off Hazlewood’s bowling. Starc let up 19 runs in his opening three overs before Gurbaz hit another four in the fifth stanza. In the seventh over, the left-arm seamer was replaced by Glenn Maxwell. In the eighth over, Hazlewood got rid of Gurbaz, giving the Australian squad their first breakthrough. Gurbaz hit two fours and scored 21 runs off of 25 balls. Pat Cummins bowled the last over of the powerplay as Afghanistan ended with 46 runs for the loss of one wicket.
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Zadran and Rahmat solidify the batting order
After the powerplay, Maxwell bowled the opening over and was hit for a four, giving up nine runs in the over. In the fourteenth over, Cummins gave up seven runs. The 15th over saw the introduction of Adam Zampa to the attack. In his second over of the stint, Starc came back on the attack and bowled one of his worst overs ever. In the 18th over, Starc gave up 13 runs by bowling four wides and was also hit for a four. Zadran mentioned the boundaries and his fifty years of age. In the twentieth over, Travis Head took Starc’s spot. Rahmat Shah and Zadran bowled 61 runs in 13 overs (11-23) as they both found it simple to rotate the strike.
Australian bowlers slow down scoring
Maxwell was bowling frugally and in the 25th over, he finally removed Shah for his maiden wicket. Rahmat hit just one four while scoring 30 runs in 44 balls. Together, Cummins and Maxwell bowled superbly, preventing Afghanistan from scoring any runs. In four overs, the pair gave up just 14 runs (26-29). When Zampa returned to the attack in the 31st over, he gave up 11 runs after being hit for two fours. Afghanistan’s run-scoring dried up even further, as they managed just 20 runs in six overs (32–37). After bowling somewhat poorly for most of the innings, Starc finally claimed his first wicket of the game. Hashmatullah Shahidi, who struck two fours and scored 26 runs in 43 balls, was bowled by Starc.
Afghanistan starts to accelerate
In the same over, Azmatullah Omarzai hit the first six of the game. After taking Starc’s place, Cummins was destroyed for three fours, one of which came from a leg bye. It was Omarzai who scored the goals. Zampa returned to the attack in the forty-first over. Omarzai hit the leg-spinner for a six after the bowler gave up nine runs in the over. Zampa removed Omarzai during his next over. While Omarzai had to return to the pavilion after scoring 22 runs in 18 balls with one four and two sixes, Zampa claimed his maiden wicket. In the 44th over, Zadran finally reached his century with 131 balls. In the World Cup, he became the first batter from Afghanistan to reach a century.
In the 45th over, Zadran hit his first six of the game by hitting the long-on boundary. After giving up 11 runs in the 45th over, Zampa finished his tenth over with a wicket. The leg-spinner from Australia finished with 10-0-58-1. Hazlewood after being hit for a six in the 4th over dismissed Mohammad Nabi. Maxwell came into the attack in the 47th over and bowled an expensive over conceding 16 runs after Rashid Khan smashed the Australian all-rounder for a six and a four each.