Afghanistan vs. Bangladesh, 52nd T20 World Cup Match – Who Said What?

Using the DLS technique, Afghanistan defeated Bangladesh by eight runs in the 52nd match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 Super Eights at Kingstown on June 24, 2024.

Afghanistan, who batted first, set a reasonable goal of 115/5 in their 20 overs.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz top-scored with a solid 43 off 55 balls, which included three fours and one six. Although the innings got off to a good start, Bangladesh’s disciplined bowling caused many setbacks.

With outstanding statistics of 4-0-26-3, Rishad Hossain spearheaded the Bangladeshi bowling assault. Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman also contributed with economical bowling, taking one wicket for 12 runs in four overs.

Naveen and Rashid wreck havoc on Bangladesh’s batting order.

After a brief weather delay, Bangladesh’s revised aim of 114 runs from 19 overs was met with difficulty as they could not match the disciplined bowling attack of Afghanistan, managing only 105 runs in 17.5 overs. Although Litton Das had an impressive showing with a cool-headed and unbeaten 54 off 49 balls, Bangladesh’s batting order was unable to muster enough runs.

Also Read: Naveen Ul Haq and Rashid Khan lead Afghanistan to the World Cup semifinals.

Leading from the front, Rashid Khan claimed four wickets for 23 runs, then Naveen-ul-Haq followed suit with four wickets for 26 runs. With tight bowling and great fielding, the Afghan bowlers followed their plans flawlessly, defending a modest sum. Afghanistan won the dramatic Super Eights stage of the T20 World Cup 2024 when Bangladesh, despite a good start to their innings, could not overcome the pressure applied by the Afghan attack.

Rashid Khan, the Winning Captain said

It’s something like a dream for us as a team being in the semifinal. It’s all about the way we have started the tournament. The belief came while we beat NZ. I don;t have any words to describe the feeling. The only guy who put us in the semifinal was Brian Lara and we proved it right. I told him we won;t let you down. We thought 130-135 was a good total on this wicket. We were 15-20 runs short.

It was all about mindset. We knew they would come hard at us to chase that in 12 overs. That’s where we could take advantage, We just had to be clear with our plans. We put in the effort, that’s in our hands. Everyone did a wonderful job. In T20s, we have a strong base, especially in bowling. The quality of fast bowling we have, they are skillful. They have great starts in this competition and it makes our job easier in the middle.

Rain was on and off, but mentally we were there. We had to take 10 wickets, that’s the only way to get to the semifinal, there’s no other way. Gulbadin had some cramps I think, hopefully he’ll be alright. That wicket he took was massive for us. It’s a massive celebration back home. The country will be very proud back home. Being in the semis is big now, we have to go with a clear mind. We’ll have to keep things simple and make sure we enjoy the big occasion.

Najmul Hossain Shanto, the Losing Captain said

Najmul Hossain Shanto | Bangladesh captain: I think we bowled really well, we did lots of good things but as a batting unit, we made poor decision especially in the middle overs. The plan was to go hard in the first six wickets, that didn’t happen and the middle-order couldn’t execute. The whole tournament we bowled really well, especially Rishad the new guy, the fast bowlers also did really well. The batting needs to improve, the top-order didn’t perform well. It can happen, the ball got wet and that’s a good thing. As I said, we didn’t execute well with the bat and made a lot of wrong decisions.

Naveen-ul-Haq, Player of the Match said

Thank you so much, I want to thank mighty Allah for this achievement, we have worked hard for this since the last few years, we were dreaming and working for this day and it’s a surreal feeling. We always knew that they would go hard in the powerplay to chase the total down in 12.1 overs, so we knew we were in the game, the plan was simple – to mix it up and we got crucial wickets in the powerplay.

These are the games you never know what can happen, after a boundary, you feel the game is gone, but a wicket brings you back in the game, so the margin for error is very small. These kind of wickets are not high-scoring ones so you are always in the game. We have worked hard for this and we are in the semis, we are very happy.