"The ODI World Cup match against Australia was like a Ludo game"- Hashmatullah Shahidi

Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahid has opened up about his team's heartbreaking loss to Australia in ICC World Cup 2023.

It was turning out to be a World Cup to remember for Afghanistan and a win over Australia would have put them on the verge of sealing a historic spot in the semifinal.

The Hashmatullah Shahidi-led began its campaign with defeats against Bangladesh and hosts India.

However, they bounced back by winning four of their next five games. Afghanistan thrashed reigning champions England to get their campaign underway.

It was followed by famous wins over former champions Pakistan, Sri Lanka as well as Netherlands. With four wins from a total of seven games, Afghanistan were very much in contention to qualify for the semifinal when they locked horns against Australia.

And for most of the game, it looked like Afghanistan would go on to stun the most successful side in the history of the World Cup. Batting first, Afghanistan scored 291/5 in the allotted 50 overs.

Ibrahim Zadran starred with the bat by smashing an unbeaten 129. Zadran also became the first-ever player from his country to hit a World Cup century.

The Afghan bowlers started brilliantly and reduced Australia to 91 for 7 in less than 19 overs to put their team on the verge of a historic victory.

With all of Australia's recognized batters except Glenn Maxwell back in the hut, the match looked very much out of their reach.

However, Maxwell had some other ideas. The right-handed batsman came up with arguably the greatest ODI knock of all time to power his team to a miraculous win.

Maxwell smashed an unbeaten double century to take Australia home in the 47th over. He scored 201 runs from just 128 balls with the help of 21 fours and 10 sixes.

Hashmatullah Shahidi recalls World Cup defeat against Australia:

Recalling the loss against Australia, Hashmatullah Shahid compared that game to a ludo game. In an exclusive interview with Cricket Addictor, the Afghanistan captain said that three of his team's pieces were already home and one was on the verge of getting home.

On the other hand, all four of Australia's pieces were outside the home column, according to Shahidi. The Afghanistan star rued that in the end, all of Australia's pieces reached home one by one, while Afghanistan's remaining pieces remained stuck.

"The ODI World Cup match against Australia was like a Ludo game where our three pieces were trapped inside and one piece stopped at the end, while Australia's four pieces were outside but then one by one, all went inside," Hashmatullah Shahidi said to Cricket Addictor.

Afghanistan then lost their final league game against South Africa as well. They eventually finished at the sixth spot in the points table with four wins from 9 games.