Maxwell’s double century saw Australia win, reaching the semi-finals with pride

New Delhi. Glenn Maxwell’s storming unbeaten innings of 201 in adverse conditions helped Australia beat Afghanistan (Australia vs Afghanistan) by 3 wickets and book a semi-final ticket in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. This is Australia’s sixth win in 9 matches and they have 12 points. At one point, Australia lost 7 wickets on the score of 91 runs. Despite this, Maxwell did not give up and single-handedly gave Australia a thrilling victory. Chasing a target of 292 runs, Australia scored 293 runs for 7 wickets in 46.5 overs. Maxwell scored an unbeaten 201 off 128 balls with 21 fours and 10 sixes. Pat Cummins scored an unbeaten 12 off 68 balls. Maxwell was adjudged player of the match for his storming innings.

Chasing the target, the Australian team got off to a poor start. At the score of 49, the Kangaroos lost their 4 wickets. Naveen Ul Haq didn’t even allow Travis Head to open an account. Naveen Hayden was caught by Ikram Alikhil. Naveen gave the Kangaroos another blow by dismissing Mitchell Marsh LBW. Marsh was dismissed for 24 runs off 11 balls. Explosive opener David Warner was dismissed for 18 runs. He was bowled by Azmatullah Umarzai. On the next ball, Umarzai did not even allow Josh Inglis to open the account, while Marnus Labuschagne was run out for 14. Marcus Stoinis was the victim of Rashid Khan by scoring 6 runs. Rashid sent Starc to the pavilion on a personal score of 3.

Who is Ibrahim Zadran: Who is Ibrahim Zadran? who created history by scoring the first century for AFG in the WC

Babar Azam will remain captain or will he be removed? Who will decide on this? PCB chief Zaka Ashraf has made it clear

Afghanistan scored 291 runs with the help of Ibrahim’s century
Afghanistan made a strong score of 291 for 5 on the back of Ibrahim Zadran’s century. Zadran became the first batsman from Afghanistan to score a century in the World Cup. Opener Zadran played an unbeaten innings of 129 runs off 143 balls with the help of 8 fours and 3 sixes. Afghanistan team managed to add 64 runs in the last five overs. Rashid Khan batted brilliantly in the death overs and scored an unbeaten 35 off 18 balls.

Ibrahim Zadran scored the first century for Afghanistan in the World Cup
The 21-year-old Zadran, who made his ODI debut 4 years ago, scored his fifth century in just the 26th match for his team in this important match at the Wankhede Stadium. Apart from being the first player from Afghanistan to score a century in the World Cup, he is also the first batsman from his country to score a century against Australia. Previously, the best individual score for Afghanistan in the World Cup was Samiullah Shinwari who scored 96 against Scotland in Dunedin during the 2015 World Cup.

Afghanistan had a good start
Zadran won the toss and vindicated captain Hashmatullah Shahidi’s decision to bat and returned unbeaten on a batting-friendly pitch, leading his team to a strong score. The bowlers were getting no help from the wicket and the Afghanistan batsmen got off to a cautious start. Rahmanullah Gurbaz (21) was the first batsman to be dismissed when he took a simple catch to Mitchell Starc at deep backward square leg off Josh Hazlewood (39/2) in the eighth over. Zadran and Rahmat Shah (30) put on a 100-ball 83-run partnership for the second wicket to take the innings and lay a good platform for Afghanistan.

Adam Zampa has taken 20 wickets
Azmatullah Umarzai tried to increase the run rate by playing an innings of 22 runs off 18 balls with two sixes and a four. He was dismissed by leg-spinner Adam Zampa (58/1), who has taken 20 wickets in the World Cup so far. In the end, Rashid Khan played an unbeaten innings of 35 runs off 18 balls with two fours and three sixes to take the team’s score close to 300 runs.

,

Tags: Afghanistan, Australia, Glenn Maxwell, Hashmatullah Shahidi, ODI World Cup, Pat Cummins, Rashid Khan