Australia defeated Afghanistan by 4 runs at the Adelaide Oval in Adelaide to reach the 2nd position in the Group 1 of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022. However, the fate of the Aussie side will rely on the result of the Sri Lanka and England match, and Glenn Maxwell is hopeful of a Sri Lankan victory.
Advertisement
Afghanistan invited Australia to bat first, and the Aussie side posted a reasonably good score of 168-8 runs in the first innings. Glenn Maxwell played an excellent knock of 54 runs in 32 balls, whereas Mitch Marsh also played an aggressive inning. Naveen-ul-Haq took 3 wickets for the Afghan side.
Afghanistan went really close in the chase and lost the match by just 4 runs at the end. Rashid Khan tried his best to take his side home but failed by a close margin in the end. Rashid played an excellent inning of 48 runs in just 23 balls with the help of 4 sixes and 3 boundaries.
Glenn Maxwell hopes Sri Lanka beat England to seal Australia’s semi final berth
Glenn Maxwell was awarded the Man of the Match award for his brilliant half-century with the bat. Australia did their job, and their semi-final spot is now dependent on the match between England and Sri Lanka. A win for England will eliminate Australia, whereas Sri Lanka’s victory will seal their semi-final spot.
For a blistering 32-ball 54* in a must-win game against Afghanistan, Glenn Maxwell is the @aramco POTM 🔥 pic.twitter.com/JZ8tSbSgjw
— ICC (@ICC) November 4, 2022
Maxwell said that they never wanted to put themselves in a situation like this, but they will now back the Sri Lankan team. He said that he is hopeful that Sri Lanka can do the job for the Australian side. The match will be played in Sydney, and the track will suit the gameplay of the Sri Lankan team.
“We’ll be following it (England vs Sri Lanka), we put ourselves in this situation, but hopefully Sri Lanka can do the job for us,” Glenn Maxwell said at the post-match-conference.
Australia won the T20 World Cup last season, and they were considered one of the favourites to win the title this season as well. If Australia gets eliminated from the Super-12 stage, it will certainly be a huge upset in the tournament.
