Sports Desk:

Gulbadin Naib was Afghanistan’s man with the golden arm, bowling his team to a tense 21-run victory over previously unbeaten Australia in a Group One Super Eight encounter of the T20 World Cup at the Arnos Vale Stadium in St Vincent on Saturday.

Set a target of 149, Glenn Maxwell (59 off 41 balls, six fours, three sixes) kept the Test and One-Day champions on course until he became Gulbadin’s third wicket in the 15th over, opening the door to a result which keeps the duel for semi-final spots alive going into the final two fixtures in the group on Monday.

Gulbadin finished with four for 20 from his four overs of medium pace to turn the match as Australia suffered their first-ever defeat to the Afghans in a senior international encounter, being dismissed for 127 with four balls left in the match.

Earlier, Pat Cummins claimed his second hat-trick in as many matches as Afghanistan lost momentum after another century opening stand from Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran, settling for a total of 148 for six after being put in.

Both teams are on two points after two games — with Australia facing Group One leaders India in their final match while Afghanistan play Bangladesh, who have lost both their Super Eights games.

Afghanistan win also keep Bangladesh’s hope alive in the tournament. Bangladesh, who suffered a 50-run defeat against India in their second Super 8 match, will now have to hope for a series of unlikely events. The Tigers would have to beat Afghanistan in their final Super Eight game on June 25 by a big enough margin to boost their current net run-rate of -2.489 and hope that the Australia-India clash tomorrow does not get washed out and India win the match. Source: AFP