Watch: Afghanistan batter hit the ball in the stands straight onto spectator’s head
Gulbadin Naib (Image Credit: Twitter)
In the ongoing game between Australia and Afghanistan in the Super 12 round of the 20-20 World Cup 2022, the home team started as favorites. However, this game isn’t just about winning for the defending champions. Apparently, they need to win big to overhaul England and New Zealand’s Net Run Rate (NRR).
However, they needed to score more than 185 to even have the slightest chance of going past NZ’s NRR. They could only score 168/8. In reply, the Afghanistan batters such as Rahmanullah Gurbaz (30), Ibrahim Zadran (26), and Gulbadin Naib (39) stood to the quality bowling line-up of Australia. After Gurbaz’s wicket, the likes of Zadran and Naib were looking like taking the game deep and away from the defending champions.
In the midst of all this, Naib nailed a six over deep midwicket boundary against Gulbadin Naib. The shot went on to hit an Aussie fan in the stands. The fan was surrounded by his mates who were checking up on him. It all happened on the thrid ball of the 10th over of the Afghanistan’s innings
Watch the video here
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Talking about the game, the Blue Brigade looked like cruising along and pulling off an upset against the hosts. At one stage, they were 99/2. However, Naib’s run-out and the wickets of Ibrahim Zadran and Najibullah Zadran in the 14th over reduced the team to 99/5. Skipper Mohammad Nabi holed out to the deep square leg of Josh Hazlewood. The likes of Rashid Khan and Darwish Rasooli are keeping the game alive.
Currently, Afghanistan needs 32 off nine balls. Even though they might not win the game, they have pretty much made it difficult for the defending champions to qualify for the semis. The Aussies needed to win by at least 50 runs to overhaul England’s NRR. However, now they would need Sri Lanka to beat the 2010 winners for them to reach the semis. Notably, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Australia are the teams who are dependent on others for their semis qualification.
