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Australia overcame Rashid Khan's scare to stay afloat in the semifinal contention after they eked out a four-run victory over Afghanistan in a cracker of a T20 World Cup Super 12 tie on Friday (November 4). Rashid's blitzkrieg of 23-ball 48 went in vain as Afghanistan ran out of steam while chasing a 169-run target. By virtue of the win, Australia moved to the second spot in Group 1 with seven points from five games, same as New Zealand, who became the first team to qualify for the semifinals on account of a better net run rate.
Australia, however, failed to get past England's net run rate as the hosts needed to restrict Afghanistan below 106 after posting 168/8. That means if England beat Sri Lanka in Sydney in their final game on Saturday, they too will finish with seven points and will join New Zealand in the semifinal from Group 1 with a better net run rate.
Australia's stand-in captain Matthew Wade hoped the slow start to their title defence at the T20 World Cup doesn't come back to haunt them as their semifinal hopes hinge on the outcome of the clash between England and Sri Lanka on Saturday.
"We will stay here tonight and watch the game tomorrow, we will be hoping for an upset. We put ourselves in this position from the get-go, we have been slow in this tournament and hopefully it doesn't cost us," Wade said during the post-match presentation on Friday.
"We gave Stoinis the last over, to have an all-rounder to bowl the last over is pretty nerve-wracking. I played him in IPL and I have seen him do it for 3-4 times. But never felt entirely sure at any point," Wade said.
Glenn Maxwell, who has adjudged the Player of the Match for his 32-ball 54, admitted that Rashid's clean hitting gave his side a scare.
"Afghanistan played really well, they struck the ball really cleanly. At the start, they put us under pressure in the powerplay. We were able to hold them back but then there was some pretty clean hitting towards the back end and gave us a bit of a scare," he said.
"It was nice to have an impact in the field. I knew I wasn't going to have much of an impact with the ball with the conditions they were. To have an impact is nice," he added.
