Australia went into their final group match of the Twenty20 World Cup with an ambitious yet straightforward task: execute the perfect mugging of Afghanistan in Adelaide to boost their own net run rate for the tournament ahead of England’s. In the end they barely escaped with a win, as a late Rashid Khan assault all but stole the pursuit of 168 for eight in the final over, falling four runs short on 164 for seven.
Australia’s fate is now in other hands, with their only path to the semi-finals requiring a Sri Lanka win over England on Saturday.
