‘NABI, SO MUCH HISTORY…’: Ian Smith Delivers Stunning Commentary as Afghanistan Claim Historic Win Over Australia in T20 World Cup

Former New Zealand stumper Ian Smith is among the most respected commentators in world cricket at the moment, and the 67-year-old delivered another stunning piece of commentary during the final stages of Afghanistan vs Australia T20 World Cup 2023 Group 1 Super 8 match at the Arnos Vale Ground, Kingstown, St Vincent on Saturday.

When Australia’s final wicket fell, that of Adam Zampa, caught by Mohammad Nabi at long-on, Smith on play-by-play commentary brought his usual passion and energy to describe the historic moment for the Afghans.

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“Down the ground… But this is Nabi. So much history and Nabi with Afghanistan cricket. But is that the most important catch he’s taken in his career? They have done it. Afghanistan, they’re running from all over the park. They’re joining in. Bravo is there. Jonathan dropped those inside and he will be silently celebrating one of the great nights of Afghanistan cricket,” said Smith.

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Smith did justice to the visuals of what was happening on the ground with an ecstatic Afghanistan player rushing to mob Nabi, the veteran who has been part of Afghanistan’s milestone moments. The entire support, barring head coach Jonathan Trott, ran to the pitch. Trott, outside the boundary, had a stoic expression as he soaked in the historic moment silently.

This was Nabi’s victory for Afghanistan against the 45th separate team in T20Is – the most by a long margin for any player. Needing 149 to win, Australia were all out for 127 runs with Gulbadin Naib and Naveen ul Haq sharing seven wickets between them, giving away just 40 runs in eight overs combined. Naib registered a career-best 4/20 while Naveen returned 3/20. For Australia, only Glenn Maxwell made any substantial contribution making 59 off 41 balls.

Earlier, after being put into bat, Afghanistan got off to a terrific start with openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (49 off 60) and Ibrahim Zadran (48 off 51) adding 118 runs for the opening wicket in 15.5 overs. This was the longest Australia had ever taken to claim the first wicket in a T20 game. Even though Afghanistan faltered in the death losing six wickets for just 23 runs in 4.1 overs, their total of 148/6 was enough to claim a historic win

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