Afghan batsman Rahmanullah Gurbaz delivered a strong message for the Australian cricket team after the victory in the T20 World Cup 2024. He said that they took revenge for the defeat in the ICC World Cup 2023 and repaid them.
Afghanistan national cricket team wrote history by defeating Australia by 21 runs in the Super 8 stage of the tournament. This was the first win for the Rashid Khan-led team against the Mitchell Marsh-led team in any format of the game as they were exceptional with bat and ball.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz was the main architect of Afghanistan’s victory as he played a sensational innings at the top. The wicketkeeper-batsman continued his golden touch with the bat and made sure to take the team to the win total in the team’s important match.
Opening the batting for the team, Rahmanullah Gurbaz batted with a positive mindset and played some blistering knocks in his innings. He made no mistake and put pressure on Australia from the start.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz scored 60 runs off 49 balls. He batted with a strike rate of over 122 and also hit 4 fours and 4 sixes in his innings. He formed a 118-run partnership with Ibrahim Zadran (51), as Afghanistan posted a total of 148 runs on the board.
After registering 148 runs on the board with the bat, Afghanistan had a sensational outing with the ball. Naveen-Ul-Haq picked three wickets at the top while Gulbadin Naib, who won the Man of the Match award, picked 4 wickets at the back. Based on their effort, they defeated Australia by 127 runs to win the game by 20 runs.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz said that winning against Afghanistan meant everything to them as they hit back at them. He said that he was hungry to beat Australia and was left speechless. In a video posted by ICC, he explained:
“That was it. They hurt us in the 50-over cup and we hurt them. (Baat Khatam) That’s it. They mentioned this team to me before the tournament. I’m hungry for them. Come on. I can’t say anything. “
23 is favorite number now – Rashid Khan
Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan also spoke about the victory against Australia, stating that the third is a special date for them as they beat Pakistan on October 23 and now Australia on June 23. He explained:
‘October 23 and June 23, both right in history. 50 years old and 20 years old. 23 is the favorite number now. And the 23rd also does the job.”
Afghanistan now has a real chance of qualifying for the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup 2024. If India beats Australia and then beats Bangladesh in their final league match, they will most likely qualify for the semi-finals of the tournament. They would be interested in winning the last match, as they are very confident and would want to take advantage of it.
