World Cup 2019 Stats: Match 4, Afghanistan vs Australia- Numbers you need to know

Defending champions Australia faced off against Afghanistan in both the teams' opening game of the 2019 World Cup. With two very different teams, one a five time champion and the other a No.10 ranked team in ODIs facing off, the battle was expected to be lop-sided.

David Warner and Steve Smith's return to cricket was the hot topic of discussion ahead of the clash and with the former registering a mature half-century, his return to international cricket was one to remember.

A country that has produced some quality cricketers who have made an impression in the international circuit, Afghanistan has always impressed with their big heart for a long time. Their approach has been aggressive but that has paid off only against the associate nations. Against quality sides like Australia, they have been found wanting.

The two teams had faced off earlier during the 2015 World Cup when the Australian team decimated Afghanistan on all fronts by amassing 417/6 from their 50 overs and then bundling out their opponents for just 142, registering a mammoth 275-run victory, the highest ever margin of victory in the World Cup.

This meetup too followed a similar template to the previous encounter as the match was a lop-sided affair. Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins' pace proved a little too hard to handle for Afghanistan as the wickets kept tumbling at regular intervals before Adam Zampa's mixed bag of tricks fetched him figures of 3/60 from eight overs.

After bundling out Afghanistan for just 207, David Warner and Aaron Finch started off on a positive note as they put on a 96-run partnership before Finch was dismissed by his opposite number for a well made 49-ball 66.

Usman Khawaja (15) and Steve Smith (18) also returned to the pavillion after making good starts but in the end, David Warner's composed innings, an unbeaten 114-ball 89 laced with eight fours took Australia across the line with over 15 overs to spare.

Here are some interesting numbers from the game-

• 2 – David Warner has only two fifty plus scores in World Cup and both have been against Afghanistan.
• 9 – Alex Carey became only the ninth wicket keeper in the World Cup to have 5 or more dismissals in a match. He also became the second Australian to do so after Adam Gilchrist (in 2003) who had 6 dismissals to his name. Sarfaraz Ahmed (Pakistan) also holds had six dismissals to his name from the 2015 World Cup.
• 11 - There were a total of 11 World Cup debutants in the match, six for Afghanistan (Mohammad Shahzad, Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman) and five for Australia (Usman Khawaja, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Adam Zampa).
• 29 – Out of the 31 ODIs that Mujeeb has played, he has opened the bowling on 29 occasions.

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