Afghanistan lost to Australia in an intense clash in match 39 of the ODI World Cup 2023 edition on Tuesday (Nov 7) at the iconic Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. After posting 291 for 5, riding on opener Ibrahim Zadran’s 129 not out, the Afghans had the Aussies on the mat at 91 for 7 before an unbroken 202-run eighth-wicket stand between Glenn Maxwell (201*) and captain Pat Cummins (12*) took them home inn 46.5 overs.

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The Hashmatullah Shahidi-led Afghans failed to capitalise on their chances and continued to bowl at an unfit Maxwell’s hitting arc to see them finish on the losing side. After this loss, Afghanistan are still not out of the semi-final race but need a big win over South Africa and also hope for New Zealand and Pakistan’s defeats. With a golden opportunity missed versus the Aussies, Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott is still upbeat of his team’s chances to reach the next round.

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‘No time to much around but a tough pill to swallow’

“Be Resilient. We lost the New Zealand game pretty heavily and came back and won the next game,” Trott said at the post-match press conference.

“We lost the India game very heavily. Came back and beat England – so yeah there is evidence of us coming back. No time to muck around, we’ve got to pick ourselves up and learn from the experience. And there’s some great learning points for the guys going forward. But yeah, it’s a bitter pill to swallow. It would really be nice just sitting here with 10 points. But hopefully, that’s after the South Africa game,” he further added.

At the post-match presentation, a dejected Afghan captain Shahidi said, “Very disappointed. Cricket is a funny game, it was unbelievable for us. We were in the game, our bowlers started very well and the dropped chances hurt us. After that, Maxwell doesn’t stop, he played every kind of shot and I can give credit to him. I think the dropped catches were the key, after that Maxwell played really well. Our bowlers tried their best but he didn’t give any chance to us. Proud of the team, but we will be disappointed tonight. We didn’t think it would be this way, part of the game. This is cricket. We will try to come back strong against South Africa. He (Ibrahim Zadran) must be proud of himself, I am also proud that he is the first Afghan with a WC hundred.”

They next face South Africa, in Ahmedabad, on Friday (Nov 10).

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