Afghanistan got off to a poor start in the ICC World Cup, scoring 207 in 37 overs before being bowled out by Australia. The Aussies went on to reach the required total comfortably with seven wickets to spare, hitting 209 in 34.5 overs.
Afghanistan elected to bat first, hoping to use their strong spinning side to restrict Australia after setting a score. However, their batting lineup started on a low note after Mitchell Starc bowled Mohammad Shahzad out in just the third ball. Hazratullah Zazai, Afghanistan’s other opener, soon followed suit after being caught on a delivery by PJ Cummins. Najibullah Zadran (51) and captain Gulbadin Naib (31) made a six-wicket stand to hit 83 off 75 balls, but this was not enough to push Afghanistan to a safe score.
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Rashid Khan managed a brave comeback, managing 27 runs before getting out by an LBW from Adam Lamba. The team’s top scorers were R.S. Zurmatai (43 off 60) and Zadran (51 off 49).
David Warner scored 89 runs off 109 balls to give his team an easy lead over the Afghans. Along with Aaron Smith, the duo made an opening stand of 96 runs before the latter was caught by Ur Rahman on a Naib delivery. U.T. Khawaja was the next to fall, with an LBW by Rashid Khan taking him out after scoring 15 runs. The last Australian to get out was S.P.D. Smith who was bowled by Rahman and caught by Zazai.
Afghanistan captain Gulbadin Naib had pledged to learn from his team’s loss, telling AFP “Definitely, we can play against these kind of teams, so you should take positive things from them.” The team is set to play Sri Lanka on Tuesday and Naib is confident of maintaining morale, saying: "We are a good side, we have good spinners and a lot of matches remaining."
Australia joins England, New Zealand and West Indies as the first teams to win a match at the ICC World Cup 2019. Their next match will be against West Indies on Thursday.
