‘Game on at Wankhede!’ – Fans react as Afghanistan post highest ever World Cup score; Australia need record chase to claim semi-final spot 

The 2023 ODI World Cup has become a historic tournament in the history of Afghanistan. Arriving as underdogs, Afghanistan upset defending champions England, registered a maiden ODI win over Pakistan and now posted their highest-ever World Cup score in the match against Australia. The Asian side has amassed 291 runs against the five-time champions on Tuesday, November 7.

Australia are just one win away from booking their semi-final spot, but they will need to complete a record chase at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium. Afghanistan, meanwhile, have set a competitive target on the board and left it to their bowling unit to help them edge closer to the knockout stage. If they manage to pull off another upset in this World Cup, it will be a great gift for the 21-year-old Ibrahim Zadran, who played a record-breaking knock.

I was feeling like I’d get a hundred in the next 3 matches: Zadran

The Afghan opener Zadran went on to smash an unbeaten 143-ball 129 to take his team to a massive total. The right-hander became the fourth youngest player to score an ODI World Cup hundred. He became the first Afghanistan batter to score a century in the World Cup. Zadran also holds the third-highest WC score by an Afghan player (87 vs PAK, Chennai, 2023). Samiullah Shinwari’s 96 vs Scotland in 2015 is second.

Speaking after the first innings, Zadran said: “Feeling very good to become the first Afghan player to score a 100 against in World Cups. I want to score many more hundreds. I worked very hard for this tournament. Against Pakistan, I missed my ton, so I wanted to make it up in this game. I was feeling like I’d get a hundred in the next 3 matches. I had a good chat with Sachin Tendulkar yesterday, he shared a lot of his experiences that I can’t express. I’m very thankful to him for sharing his experiences and giving me a lot of confidence.”

Zadran was involved in partnerships right through, with the biggest being for the second wicket with Rahmat Shah. The scoring was not at a rapid pace but they had a clear plan to keep wickets in hand and fire towards the end. All seven players contributed their share and some sparkling cameos from Rashid Khan and Azmatullah Omarzai provided the much-needed boost. Afghanistan added 96 runs in the last 10 overs – their highest in the World Cup.

Here’s how fans reacted to Afghanistan’s first innings vs Australia: