KINGSTOWN: Former England captain Michael Vaughan has named Afghanistan as the second best team in Asia after beating Australia in the Super 8.
The win on June 23 made Afghanistan the 2021 T20 champions and six-time 50-over champions for the first time. The win boosted Afghanistan’s hopes of reaching the semifinals.
Vaughan, thanks to Afghanistan, has assembled a team of skilled players and has been led by Rashid Khan.
“It is not surprising that Afghanistan has put in the kind of performance we have just witnessed. They are very skilled players and they are great players in Rashid Khan,” he said.
Chasing a target of 149 runs, Australia were bowled out for 127 runs in 19.2 overs. It was the first loss for the Aussies against Afghanistan in six international matches.
Apart from Glenn Maxwell’s 59 off 41, it was a dreadful display from Australia as their second-highest score of the innings was tied at 16.
Naveen-ul-Haq claimed 3-20 but the star of the show was Gulbadin Naib who took 4-20 and was named Player of the Match.
Earlier, Australia won the tournament and decided to play against Afghanistan first.
Battling first, Afghanistan posted 148-6 in 20 overs courtesy of openers Gurbaz and Zadran.
Gurbaz (60 off 49) and Zadran (51 off 48) became the first pair with three centuries stands in the T20I series after scoring 118 runs for the first wicket.
Pat Cummins led the charge for Australia at the back of the innings after picking up another hat-trick. The pacer now has two hat-tricks in two back-to-back matches and has bowled two different overs on both occasions.
Cummins dismissed Rashid Khan, Karim Janat and Gulbadin Naib to claim the hat-trick.
Michael Vaughan calls Afghanistan ‘second best Asian team’
