Rashid Khan reveals secret reason behind Afghanistan's victory against Australia in T20 World Cup 2024

Rashid Khan has revealed a different secret reason for how Afghanistan managed to crush the mighty Australia in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. Afghanistan scripted history by defeating Australia for the first-ever time in a T20I match. 

The victory made the headlines across the world. It also surprised many Indian fans early Sunday morning, who expected to have a peaceful day on a non-working day. Notably, the match took place in early Sunday morning according to Indian time. 

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We went back with the same playing XI: Rashid Khan 

Rashid Khan-led Afghanistan defeated Australia by 21 runs against a target of 149. After the victory, Rashid Khan revealed one of the reasons behind their victory in the match. He feels backing the same players was one of the secret reasons for winning the game. 

“Quite important for us that we went back with the same playing XI. We're reading the opposition bowling line-up and selecting XI accordingly. 140 was a good total on this wicket”, he said. 

Rashid Khan, who took 1 wicket and scored 2 runs in the match, also feels that they could have finished well with batting. Notably, Afghan middle-order and lower-order batsmen could not follow up the amazing start by openers in the match. 

"We didn't finish as well as we should have. Opening partnership gave us the best start. On this wicket, anything 130-plus, we were capable of defending it as long as we kept calm and had the belief. That's the beauty of this team, having all-rounders and having options,” he further said. 

Notably, Afghanistan openers Gurbaz and Zadran slammed 60 and 51 to put up a stunning stand of 118 runs for 1st wicket within 16 overs. However, other batters failed to smack runs in the death overs and could not get a big total as the Asian giant finished with 148-6 in the end. 

Rashid Khan also said it was a massive victory for his team and it was the result of their two works of hard work. 

“Massive win for us as a team and as a nation. Great feeling. It's something we have missed in the last two years. Really happy with the win and super proud of the guys,” he further said.

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Gulbadin Naib thanks Rashid Khan for support  

Interestingly, Gulbadin Naib was the star behind Afghanistan's victory in the match. Afghanistan failed to finish the batting well. However, Naib's four wickets helped them to overpower the Aussies while batting. Later, Naib also thanked Rashid Khan for his support. 

"Thanks to Rashid for trusting me. This was a complete team effort", he further said. 

Naib came up with a spell of 4 wickets for just 20 runs in his 4 overs. His spell changed the dynamics of the match. Another star performer was Naveen-Ul-Haq, who captured 3 wickets for the team.