Afghanistan enter T20 World Cup semifinals after beating Bangladesh

Afghanistan cricket team created history by reaching semi-finals of a World Cup for the first time in history after they beat Bangladesh in a close Super 8 encounter that involved a see-saw battle and a little play-act of injury by Gulbadin Naib that left the TV commentators and social media in splits.

Afghanistan needed to win the match to reach four points and enter the semi-finals of the ongoing T20 World Cup after Australia had lost their Super 8 games to them and India and finished only on two points.

Bangladesh too had an opportunity, and after restricting the Afghans to 115/5 in 20 overs in Kingstown, St Vincent, needed to overhaul the target in 12.1 overs to qualify for semis behind India.

They went for the broke and despite losing three early wickets, remained in the hunt through Litton Kumar Das, who scored 54 off 49 balls.

After their chance of overhauling the target inside 13 overs went up in smoke, they fell away and lost the match, the rain interruptions creating further confusion for them.

At one point, with Bangladesh just two runs short of the DLS target and rain starting to pour, Jonathan Trott was seen signalling to the centre to slow things down. Naib, standing in slips, acknowledged Trott’s gesture and immediately fell down grabbing his thigh. The injury looked anything but real even though he was carried off by his teammates as the umpires halted play due to rain.

The game, however, resumed and Afghanistan won the match.

Skipper Rashid Khan picked 4/23 with his leg-spin while pace bowler Naveen-ul-Haq took 4/26.   

“It is 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 New Zealand [in league phase]. It's unbelievable, I don't have any words to describe my feelings,” said Rashid after the match.

Afghanistan vs Bangladesh, T20 World Cup, Rashid Khan