Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has praised Rashid Khan and his team, who made history by defeating Australia in the T20 World Cup on Saturday.
In the video that he posted on Facebook, Shoaib used a colorful image to explain how remarkable Afghanistan’s accomplishment was. He said, “Woh kehete hain na hathi sher se 100x badha hota hain aur 80x samajhadaar hota hain (They say an elephant is 100 times bigger than a lion and 80 times smarter, but when it comes to Afghan lions), they took the elephant as their lunch. They ate them. So, attitude matters a lot. Today, Afghanistan not only got their revenge but also showed great intent. And what excellent leadership was display by Rashid Khan. They say leadership is 80 percent mentality, 20 percent skill. That’s the reason they were able to take down such a big elephant for lunch.”
“And then the mighty Australians who never lose any match and plays the best cricket in world cups – agreed upon; there is no one better at playing World Cups than you but this time you face one of your toughest opponents whose attitude was like lions.” added the former pacer.
Afghanistan’s hero became Gulbadin Naib after taking four wickets for 20 runs in his four overs of medium pace. Inclusion of Glenn Maxwell’s dismissal who had scored 59 off just 41 balls during his excellent bowling spell turned out to be the game changer for Afghanistan. Finally Australia were all out for 127 chasing down Afghanistan’s target of 149 runs thus making it their first ever defeat against them in senior international cricket.
At an earlier stage of that match Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran put up a solid foundation with a century partnership for Afghanistan opening pair. Top scoring Gurbaz scored 60 from with Zadran contributing 51 from deliveries before Pat Cummins dismissed him second hat trick in two games restricting Afghans to score only six for 148.
Nonetheless, Afghanistan’s attackers, led by Gulbadin who defended the score efficiently, are still alive in the tournament and they have a chance of reaching semifinal.
