Mumbai | Opener Ibrahim Zadran became the first Afghanistan batter to score a World Cup hundred and guided his team to 291 for five against Australia here on Tuesday.
Zadran carried his bat through the innings and finished on 129 not out off 143 balls.
Opting to bat after winning the toss, Afghanistan lost opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz for a 25-ball 21 but Zadran and Rahmat Shah stitched 83 runs for the second wicket to lay a good foundation before the latter was dismissed by Glenn Maxwell for a 44-ball 30 in the 25th over with the score reading 121.
Unperturbed by the loss of few wickets at the other end, Zadran continued to accumulate runs at a decent rate to prop up his team against the five-time world champions.
Rashid Khan smashed unbeaten 35 off 18 balls towards the end.
Brief scores:
Afghanistan: 291 for 5 in 50 overs (Ibrahim Zadran 129 not out; Josh Hazlewood 2/39).
Scoreboard of the World Cup meeting between Afghanistan and Australia here on Tuesday.
Afghanistan innings
Rahmanullah Gurbaz c Starc b Hazlewood 21
Ibrahim Zadran not out 129
Rahmat Shah c Hazlewood b Maxwell 30
Hashmatullah Shahidi (c) b Starc 26
Azmatullah Omarzai c Maxwell b Zampa 22
Mohammad Nabi b Hazlewood 12
Rashid Khan not out 35
Extras: (lb 5, nb 1, w 10) 16
Total: (For five wickets in 50 overs) 291
Fall of wickets: 38-1, 121-2, 173-3, 210-4, 233-5.
Bowling: Mitchell Starc 9-0-70-1, Josh Hazlewood 9-0-39-2, Glenn Maxwell 10-0-55-1, Pat Cummins 8-0-47-0, Adam Zampa 10-0-58-1, Travis Head 3-0-15-0, Marcus Stoinis 1-0-2-0.
