While trying to push his team over the 100-run barrier with a few swings of the bat, Rashid Khan could only muster 115 runs, one of which came from a six off the last pitch. Bangladesh bowled 66 total dot balls to maintain their team’s chances of qualifying for the semifinals. Play was momentarily halted by severe rain after the last-ball six, so the players hurried indoors.
Afghanistan advanced to the Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 semifinals with an amazing victory over Bangladesh, two days after defeating Australia. Following India’s victory over Australia in the morning match, Afghanistan needed to win in order to advance ahead of the 2021 champions. Bangladesh, on the other hand, was a pain in their side since they bowled admirably and held Afghanistan to 115/5 in 20 overs.
Rain spells improved the conditions slightly, and Litton Das demonstrated his batting grit, but Rashid Khan (4 for 23) and Naveen Ul Haq (4 for 26) combined to move their team to the round of four.
If not for the collapse in the middle overs, Bangladesh would have easily crossed the finish line. Afghanistan, on the other hand, fared well in this phase, losing just one wicket, despite their need to improve after a sluggish start.
Afghanistan’s openers, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran, began the innings cautiously after Rashid Khan won the toss and elected to bat in difficult batting conditions. In the first few overs, Tanzim Hasan and Taskin Ahmed were given stiff bounce, which caused discomfort for the Afghan pair. Before Ibrahim hit a length ball through covers in the third over from Tanzim, one short ball cleared Litton Das’s reach behind the stumps for four consecutive byes.
After being introduced in the fifth over, Shakib Al Hasan nearly scored a run off the bat, but Towhid Hridoy mishandled a catch at short cover, costing Ibrahim a life. In the PowerPlay, Bangladeshi bowlers were still hitting the mark with their lengths, with only one more four coming in.
Though not significantly, the scoring percentage did improve relative to how difficult it was for the hitters to hit because the ball continued to skid through. Although Gurbaz and Ibrahim managed to extend their partnership above 50 runs for the fourth time in this World Cup (including two partnerships of more than 100 runs), Afghanistan went through a spell of 39 deliveries without scoring a four or a six.
Gurbaz wanted to dance down against Shakib and struck a six on the ground to break the scoring drought. But despite superb bowling, the dot balls continued to accumulate. The first breakthrough came from Bangladesh’s finest bowler in the competition, Rishad Hossain, who had Ibrahim caught at long-off following an outrageous catch by Tanzim. After that, Taskin bowled a maiden over to Gurbaz, who then hit for 13 runs in the 14th over off Rishad. Shakib concluded his remarkable spell of 0 for 19 in 4 overs to close off the middle overs.
As wickets fell early in the death, Afghanistan lost their way. Azmatullah Omarzai attempted to intercept a delivery from Mustafizur and stole it from Litton. Bangladesh was required to examine the on-field decision to bench the hitter. Then Rishad delivered key punches, first luring Gurbaz into an untimed shot that he threw up, and then using the same trick to see Gulbadin Naib’s back.
Both catches were made by Soumya Sarkar from deep point; the second required a great dive and a forward sprint. With that, Rishad reached his World Cup 14 wicket total, which is the highest for a bowler from Bangladesh in a single tournament. Mustafizur ended with 1 for 12, but he finished with stats of 3 for 26.
The ball came onto the bat wonderfully for the Bangladeshi openers after the rain break, and Litton Das took advantage of it in Naveen Ul Haq’s opening over. However, in the second over, Fazalhaq Farooqi got the ball to swing and trapped Tanzid Hasan’s leg before. In his second over, Naveen made a strong comeback, getting rid of Shakib Al Hasan and Najmul Hossain on consecutive deliveries.
On the first ball he faced, Naveen was given a straight back ball when Shakib’s bat gave down and Najmul lost his powerful shot to deep square leg. In the middle of the fourth over, the players were forced to leave the pitch due to another round of rain. Upon their comeback after around half an hour, Litton and Soumya Sarkar attempted to carry on where they had left off, despite Mohammad Nabi bowling a superb over that included just three singles.
With a shaky arm ball, Rashid Khan removed Sarkar’s stumps, initiating Bangladesh’s middle-overs collapse.
Afghanistan had some nervous moments on the pitch after Fazalhaq Farooqi missed a catch, but Rashid was there to make progress once more. Bangladesh was reduced to 64 for five when he got Towhid Hridoy to hole out to deep square leg in his second over. After bowling his third over in a row, Rashid removed Mahmudullah. The on-field umpire missed the slight nick, so it required a very good review to send the senior hitter back.
Rashid took his fourth wicket as Rishad Hossain attempted to slog sweep the first ball he faced but failed. Another short rain delay brought the chase down to 19 overs with 114 (two less) to be made. Gulbadin Naib, the Afghan bowling hero of the previous two evenings, entered the game and dismissed Tanzim, putting Afghanistan two wickets short of a semifinal berth.
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From the opposite end, Litton witnessed a significant amount of the middle-overs as the Bangladeshi lineup collapsed and burned their way to eight wickets. He reached a half-century in the 16th over with a sweep shot, but he didn’t give up as Afghanistan tried to get the final two wickets. While Litton gradually reduced the deficit, Taskin Ahmed kept him company. After Naveen cleaned up Taskin, the equation came down to 9 runs off 9 balls.
Intriguingly, another phase of intermittent showers increased when Bangladesh lagged behind according to DLS estimations. But when play started up again, Mustafizur Rahman had to bat out the final ball of the 19th over in order to give Litton an opportunity to chase in the 20th. That was not to be, though, as Naveen managed to trap Mustafizur Rahman leg beforehand, igniting frenzied revelries.
Australia returns home, as does Bangladesh. Afghanistan will play South Africa in the opening semifinal in Trinidad.
India
