Watch cricket video highlights of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 fifty-second match between Afghanistan vs Bangladesh. Venue of the match will be Kingstown.
The first time Jonathan Trott kicked a bag was in the changing room. Then, as it started to rain, he gave Afghanistan the signal to slow down the game. Throughout the pursuit, Rashid Khan kept his hands on his head. Mohammad Nabi’s face was always grinning. It was not visible to Dwayne Bravo. However, Naveen-ul-Haq’s departure after getting the last Bangladeshi wicket was the one scene that perfectly captured the intensely emotional evening in Kingstown. That guaranteed Afghanistan’s first-ever place in a men’s senior World Cup semi-final.
Afghanistan, powered by four-fors from Naveen and Rashid, defeated Bangladesh by just eight runs in a match that was interrupted by many weather delays. In the process, Afghanistan eliminated Australia from the T20 World Cup 2024. The downpour further heightened the tension as both teams and Australia competed for one Super Eight semifinal berth from Group 1. The previous hour or so was spent playing cat and mouse. There were times when Afghanistan had the lead on the DLS par score, but Bangladesh was able to overturn the result by taking wickets.
With a tournament best of 36 prior to Monday, Litton Das persevered through it all but was unable to push Bangladesh across the finish line. After defeating two teams in one game, Rashid and company danced nonstop, and the festivities will probably last longer. Bangladesh defeated Australia and Afghanistan to go to the semi-finals, although they had to chase their first target of 116 down in 12.1 overs. Rainfall that lasted for twenty minutes caused a thirty-minute delay in their pursuit.
Bangladesh, consequently, suffered from a shortened game. However, Bangladesh provided conflicting messages following the second break in the rains. In an attempt to assault Rashid, Soumya Sarkar was knocked down by Litton’s attack on Naveen. Although Towhid Hridoy’s gamble, which included a dropped catch against Mohammad Nabi, paid off, he also holed out against Rashid. However, Bangladesh appeared to be on course to chase the goal down in order to qualify when Litton struck Rashid for two consecutive fours, one over mid-off and the other just past slip.
However, after 11 overs, they were reduced to 80 for 7 because to Mahmudullah’s indecision and Rishad Hossain’s daring. At that point, the wet clouds reappeared and continued to linger over the stadium, providing consistent coverage of the DLS par scores for the remainder of the evening. Litton seemed to remain composed under mounting strain. With a strike rate of less than 100 and an unimpressive 2024 in Twenty20 Internationals, his position in the Bangladeshi lineup is in doubt. However, he got off to a deliberate start and maintained their aspirations of finishing the T20 World Cup victorious. Still, it was not intended to be.
Afghanistan’s weapon with the new ball, Fazalhaq Farooqi, took Tanzid Hasan for a leg before wicket with his third ball, his 16th wicket, leveling his record for most wickets in a men’s T20 World Cup with Wanindu Hasaranga. Litton struck Naveen for a four and a six in his costly first over. Then, in his second over, Najmul Hossain Shanto blasted one over midwicket. However, Naveen again produced a length ball angling into Shanto, who took out the fielder there, with a deep midwicket in position. Bangladesh were 23 for 3 when Naveen’s subsequent delivery managed to straighten just enough to capture Shakib Al Hasan’s leading edge for a return catch.
A non-enterprising start is one of the strategies that has worked for Afghanistan in their World Cup openers. Following their usual pattern, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran did not take many risks on the powerplay or in the first 10 overs. They were 27 for 0 at the end of the powerplay and 58 for 0 at the ten-over point. The fourth fifty-wicket partnership between Gurbaz and Ibrahim was the highest of any T20 World Cup pairing. Only fifteen offensive shot attempts were made in the first 10 overs, and that too on a surface that was slowing down and would eventually see dew.
The wind was blowing diagonally from right to left, in the direction of Rishad’s natural spin, when he was called on in the ninth over. He beat Ibrahim’s outside edge right away, and he utilized the bounce to have the leading edge of the same batter caught at long off in his second over. In his third over, Gurbaz then turned the tables on Rishad. After 38 legal balls without a four, he first smacked one over cover point to conclude the phase. He then used the sweep to get another four through the backward-square-leg area.
But in his final over, Rishad had the last laugh when he got Gurbaz to hole out for deep cover. He also saw Gulbadin Naib misplay a slice in the direction of cover point a few balls later. If Sarkar hadn’t dashed in from the deep and dove forward almost to the 30-meter circle, Naib could have managed to escape. Afghanistan went from having an early edge of 59 for 0 to 89 for 4, and that was it.
At 93 for 5, with just 14 balls remaining, Rashid entered. He faced 10 of them, tried to attack on nine of them, and ended up finishing on 19 without being out. He hit three sixes, two of which came off Tanzim Hasan Sakib’s last over. With the exception of one instance when he threw the willow in the direction of his partner Karim Janat, he normally made good use of it. In the final over of the innings, Rashid requested a second run to maintain his lead, but Janat declined.
Even so, he contributed to Afghanistan’s 22nd run in the final 14 balls, which put them on a competitive total right before the skies in Kingstown opened. Afghanistan faced 66 dot balls throughout their innings, which was third highest in men’s T20I where ball-by-ball data are available by a side losing five or fewer wickets. However, it did not come back to haunt Afghanistan, who managed to effectively defend totals in St. Vincent and maintain their clean slate.
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