Australia has grabbed its last chance to be in the running for the World Cup semi-final qualification. The Kangaroos beat Afghanistan in their last Super 12 clash to collect much-needed points. Aaron Finch missed out on the match following a hamstring injury. Matthew Wade took on the charge in his absence. With the final win, Australia now has 7 points in their account and can still count on their chances to qualify further.
Afghanistan won the toss and opted to chase at the Adelaide Oval. Warner following his World Cup form left rather early. Marsh scored a stabilizing 45 while ultimately, Glenn Maxwell anchored the Australian innings. Following a consistent fall of wickets, Australia put up a total score of 168 on the board. Despite Rashid Khan putting on great efforts to stretch the Afghanistan innings towards a win, they crumpled as Australia won by the final 4 runs.
With this win, Australia has now a total of 7 points. These points put them ahead of England in the points table right now. And this match has sorted it all down to England and Australia. Now, it’s all on the England Vs Sri Lanka game to decide who moves further in the semi-final from Group 1 with New Zealand. If England wins, they’ll have an equal point to Australia. However, their Net Run Rate will put the team ahead of Australia thus promoting their charge to the playoffs.
However, if the Asia Cup champions clinch the game, England will bow out directly with a point difference of 2 against Australia. In another and a very possible scenario, if rain hits the SCG washing out the game, England will earn just one point. The point will take England’s total to 6 that’ll still be one less than Australia’s 7. And so, the rain will also push Australia toward the T20 World Cup semi-finals.
