‘We put ourselves in this situation, but hopefully, Sri Lanka can do the job for us’
Glenn Maxwell scored an unbeaten half century and spinner Adam Zampa took a crucial 2-22 as defending champions Australia later joined New Zealand on seven points after a win by just four runs over the Afghans in Adelaide.
All-rounder Maxwell hoped that Sri Lanka can do the impossible to beat England by a good margin so that the defending champions can make the semi-finals.
Glenn Maxwell's unbeaten 54 from 32 deliveries followed by Adam Zampa and Josh Hazlewood's brilliant spells guided Australia to a 4-run victory over Afghanistan in their Super 12 clash of the ongoing T20 World Cup 2022 here at Adelaide Oval on Friday.
"We got to about the 12th over mark where we just had to put a total on the board to make sure we gave ourselves a chance of winning the game. Even though we were trying to go hard, they bowled extremely well in the last four overs. They executed their plans and it was hard to get away. 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 in a post-match presentation.
Rashid Khan smashed an unbeaten 48 off 23 deliveries to take Afghanistan close to the target. His knock consisted of three fours and four huge sixes gave the Afghan fans something to cheer for and guided his team to a last-over thriller.
"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," said the Australia all-rounder.
