Australia’s fate now rests in other hands, with their only path to the semi-finals requiring Sri Lanka’s victory over England on Saturday. Today’s Afghanistan is an altogether tougher side than the one that posted 417 runs against Australia in the 2015 World Cup. Taliban fanatics have taken over their country, destroying the fledgling women’s program and making the men a de facto exile team. Somehow these players kept their heads, qualify directly for this tournament in the top eight, and were denied the chance to strut their stuff at the MCG with two washouts. There is no better reflection of their toughness than Rashid limping off Adelaide Oval on Tuesday with a sore knee, then bowling beautifully and batting like a demon on Friday night. Australia struck a blow before the match: Aaron Finch, the captain, and finisher Tim David ruled out with hamstring injuries, replaced after a tournament on the sidelines by Cameron Green and Steve Smith. The substitutes faced six balls and scored seven runs between them, while among the fast bowlers Kane Richardson replaced Mitchell Starc and was lashed for 48 runs in his allotment. With Australia needing quick wickets against a side unaccustomed to top-rate pace, it was a particularly odd choice given Finch had spent his press conference the previous day talking up Starc as both a new-ball genius and enforcement of the middle overs. If it was an injury issue, it was not revealed. Racing was never fully Australia’s way. David Warner and Mitchell Marsh threatened when the pitch was open, the former clever at creating angles behind square, the latter hitting hard through the ball. They got 50 from the first five overs but were bowled out for 25 and 45 respectively. Marcus Stoinis may have hit Australia’s fastest ever 50 against Sri Lanka last week, but despite two sixes against Afghanistan, he barely got a ball past his 25th. Only Glenn Maxwell bettered the 10 runs per over that Australia really needed, taking on spinners and seamers alike, batting all the way for 54 off 32 balls. Naveen-ul-Haq Murid was the standout, a young quick with nice action who faced the attacking Aussies and got out with three for 21. He bowled a Warner switch, got into a small club to pin Smith lbw and had Pat Cummins caught in the deep for a duck, before starting his own bowling to run out Richardson at non-striker’s end. Fazalhaq Farooqi has impressed through the tournament, hitting over 140km/h, hitting a length like the one that got past Green and nailing his yorkers like a fine example to bowl the dangerous Matthew Wade for a six. He finished with two for 29, Rashid was his usual frugal self with one for 29, and only favorite amateur bodybuilder Gulbadin Naib was badly hit. Rashid Khan shows his frustration after failing to lead Afghanistan to victory. Photo: Matt Turner/AAP This left Australia needing to keep Afghanistan to 106 to match England’s net rate and below that to take a substantial lead. Hope went fast, with Rahmanullah Gurbaz unabashedly hitting a huge six over leg and cutting four off Josh Hazlewood’s opener. He made 30 off 17, Afghanistan were 47 for two after the powerplay, and then came Gulbadin to get his own back, plundering mainly from Richardson. Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers’ thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week’s action Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. A win in Afghanistan was solid – 71 balls needed off 42 with Gulbadin on 39 and Ibrahim Zadran on 26 well set. Three wickets then fell in four balls, Gulbadin getting away from a Maxwell direct hit from the deep before Adam Zampa produced two catches. Hazlewood followed up with the important wicket of long-serving Big Bash player Mohammad Nabi, who stepped down as Afghanistan captain after the game. The score was 103 for six, still below that mark for net run rate. But Rashid wasn’t done. Having caught the ball for 10 off 11, he suddenly hit two huge sixes from Richardson in the 18th over and another from Hazlewood in the 19th over. His method was simple, baseballing anything short, cycling if something was full, running his wrists through the ball in his usual fashion to gain bat speed. It worked. Needing 22 from the last over, Stoinis started with a side, and Darwish Rasooli raced through the wicket himself to get Rashid on strike. Rashid hit another six and two fours, one of which was just short of the rope, and failed to get there, with 16 from the over a commendable effort as he finished on 48 not out. In terms of group impact, Afghanistan may well live in Australia’s memories as the team that knocked them out of the World Cup. If not, another relationship must come to the fore. When the Australians went to crisis-hit Sri Lanka last June, there was much gratitude for the visit. Now they are asking Sri Lanka to return the favor.
