Former Australian cricketer Tom Moody pointed out the reason why the Mitchell Marsh-led team could not win the match against Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup 2024. He said that the 2021 champions were poor on the field because they were in their worst moment.
The Australian cricket team received a 21-run thrashing at the hands of the Afghanistan national cricket team. The Rashid Khan-led team was magnificent with bat and ball, ticked almost all the boxes and made sure to register their first win over the opposition.
Afghanistan were asked to bat first and they got off to a magnificent start with the bat. Rahmanullah Gurbaz (60) and Ibrahim Zadran (51) did most of the killing with the bat at the top as they added 118 runs to the opening partnership, putting Australia under pressure.
They were also helped by Australia’s sloppiness in the field. They dropped some of the catches, but after the initial partnership, they pulled off an amazing comeback. Pat Cummins led the charge and scored a hat-trick, while Adam Zampa bagged two wickets as they restricted Afghanistan to 148/6.
It was a horrible outing for Australia with the bat. They lost ground from the beginning. Travis Head fell for a duck in the first over and then David Warner and captain Mitchell Marsh also failed to make much of an impact with the bat when under pressure.
Glenn Maxwell returned to form with the magnificent 59 and when he was batting it looked like he would take the game away from Afghanistan just as he did in the 2023 World Cup. However, the introduction of Gulbadin Naib changed the course of the match. He picked 4 wickets as the Rashid Khan-led team outscored the opponents by 127 runs to win the game by 21 runs.
Tom Moody admitted Australia were sloppy with their fielding in the game and it cost them. While speaking to ESPNCricinfo, he explained:
“I don’t think I’ve seen Australia play as badly as we saw tonight. They missed a couple of chances. Yes, there are a couple of very difficult chances, but just sloppy on the field in general. And for me, one thing is that Australian cricket was very proud of itself with its fielding.”
They were out of place on the field tonight – Tom Moody
Tom Moody further noted that Australia is always on top when on the field. But his lack of accuracy on the field was the main reason for his defeat in the match against Afghanistan. He added:
“Normally they are the standout when it comes to those 20 overs in the field. But tonight they were out of place in the field, which is unlike them. And ultimately it cost them.”
To stay alive in the 2024 T20 World Cup, Australia will have to win their final match against India. The match will be played in Guyana on Monday (June 24).