Afghanistan earn their stripes: Giant-killers beat Bangla Tigers amid high drama to reach first-ever T20 WC semis

Kingstown, June 25

Afghanistan reached the semifinals of the T20 World Cup with a dramatic eight-run victory over Bangladesh under the Duckworth Lewis System on Monday here, joining India as the qualifiers from Group 1 and sending Australia home.

The Bangla Tigers also had a chance to progress or send Australia through with a victory but the Afghans dismissed them for 105 to take the win they needed to set up a first World Cup semifinal against South Africa in Trinidad on Wednesday.

India, who beat Australia by 24 runs earlier in St Lucia to leave the qualification hopes of the 2021 champions hanging by a thread, will take on title holders England in the second semifinal in Guyana on Thursday.

Afghanistan’s hopes were dented when they were restricted to a modest 115/5 but skipper Rashid Khan took 4/23 and Naveen-ul-Haq 4/26 in a defiant bowling effort that delivered victory.

The last few overs were high drama played out well past midnight local time with Bangladesh needing roughly a run-a-ball and the DLS calculations in case of more rain changing with every wicket and boundary.

Naveen delivered the coup de grace in the penultimate over by bowling Taskin Ahmed and trapping Mustafizur Rahman in front off consecutive balls, triggering tearful celebrations from his teammates.

In the 12th over, Gulbadin Naib raised eyebrows when he collapsed to ground just after his coach Jonathan Trott had indicated to his players they should slow down and wait for a rain shower to intensify and stop play.

Rashid, who had looked unimpressed with his teammate on the field, later said the all-rounder had been suffering from cramp.

Gulbadin did spend a couple of overs off the field before returning to claim the eighth Bangladesh wicket, sending Tanzim Hasan Sakib back off a thick top edge to cover. — Reuters

Scoreboard

Afghanistan

R Gurbaz c Sarkar b Rishad 43

I Zadran c Hasan Sakib b Rishad 18

A Omarzai c Das b Mustafizur 10

G Naib c Sarkar b Rishad 4

M Nabi c Shanto b Ahmed 1

K Janat not out 7

R Khan not out 19

Extras: (b 5, w 8) 13

Total: (5 wickets, 20 overs) 115

FOW: 1-59, 2-84, 3-88, 4-89, 5-93

Bowling O M R W

Tanzim Hasan Sakib 4 0 36 0

Taskin Ahmed 4 1 12 1

Shakib Al Hasan 4 0 19 0

Mustafizur Rahman 4 0 17 1

Rishad Hossain 4 0 26 3

Bangladesh

L Das not out 54

T Hasan lbw b Farooqi 0

N Shanto c Nabi b Naveen 5

S Al Hasan c & b Naveen 0

S Sarkar b Rashid 10

T Hridoy c Zadran b Rashid 14

Mahmudullah c sub (Ishaq) b Rashid 6

R Hossain b Rashid 0

T Hasan Sakib c Nabi b Naib 3

T Ahmed b Naveen 2

M Rahman lbw b Naveen 0

Extras: (b 1, lb 7, w 3) 11

Total: (All out, 17.5 overs) 105

FOW: 1-16, 2-23, 3-23, 4-48, 5-64, 6-80, 7-80, 8-92, 9-105, 10-105

Bowling O M R W

Naveen-ul-Haq 3.5 0 26 4

Fazalhaq Farooqi 2 0 15 1

Mohammad Nabi 2 0 15 0

Rashid Khan 4 0 23 4

Noor Ahmad 4 0 13 0

Gulbadin Naib 2 0 5 1