Afghanistan’s dream run in Under-19 World Cup came to a screeching halt on Monday (January 29) after Australia thrashed them by six wickets in the first semifinal at Hagley Oval, Christchurch.
Chasing a modest 182, the three-time champions were off to a shaky start as opener Max Bryant was dismissed by Mujeeb Zadran for just 4. However, a 77-run stand between Jack Edwards and Jason Sangha all but sealed the fate of the game in Australia’s favour. Afghanistan threatened to claw their way back in the game by dismissing both the set batsmen and Jonathan Merlo in quick succession to reduce Australia to 129 for 4 from 103 for 1. However, Param Uppal and Nathan McSweeney did not let Afghanistan make further inroads in the game, stitching together an unbeaten 63-run stand to help Australia chase down the total with utmost ease in the 38th over.
Earlier in the day, Australia rode on Jonathan Merlo’s 4-wicket haul to wrap up Afghanistan’s innings for 181. Brimming with confidence after their historic win in the quarterfinal over hosts New Zealand, Afghanistan did not hesitate in batting first after winning the toss. However, their decision seemed to have backfired initially after Ibrahim Zadran was dismissed for just 7. But at 58 for 1, the Asian country was looking set to post a good score once again.
However, once Merlo broke the 37-run stand between Rahmanullah and Ikram Ali Khil, Afghanistan kept on losing wickets at regular intervals.
Ali Khil held from one end but the wickets flowed at the other. Bahir Shah (4), who scored an unbeaten half-century in the last match, Darwish Rasooli (2) and Nisar Wahdat (11) failed to get going, all falling to Merlo as Afghanistan’s innings was completely derailed.
On the other end, Ali Khil kept the scoreboard ticking to take Afghanistan towards a respectable total. By the time he was dismissed for 80 by Lloyd Pope, he had contributed to almost 55% of Afghanistan’s total at the time – 146/7. The lower-order could not hung around for long as Afghanistan were all out for 181.
Brief score:
Australia 182 for 4 (Edwards 72, Qais Ahmad 2-35) beat Afghanistan (Ali Khil 80; Merlos 4-24) by 6 wickets with 12.3 balls remaining