T20 WC: Australia suffered three big setbacks in three days, first lost to Afghanistan and India, now out of the tournament

Posted on 25th Jun 2024 by rohit kumar

Afghanistan has made it to the semi-finals by defeating Bangladesh. With this, the Australian team is out of the T20 World Cup. Australia's hopes were pinned on the Bangladesh team. In this low-scoring match, at one time it seemed that the Bangladesh team would not only qualify itself but would also eliminate Afghanistan. Australia would have benefited from this, but Afghanistan's bowlers made a tremendous comeback, took wickets, and won.

 

The four teams for the semi-finals have been decided. Now Afghanistan will face South Africa in the first semi-final on June 27. At the same time, the Indian team will take on England in the second semi-final. The Australian team has suffered three major setbacks within the last three days. On June 23, Afghanistan upset Australia. After this, on June 24, India defeated the Kangaroos by 24 runs. Now Afghanistan's victory over Bangladesh on June 25 has shown Australia the way out of the tournament. With this, the revenge for India's defeat in the 2023 ODI World Cup has also been completed in a real sense.

 

Bangladesh also had a chance to qualify

 

Batting first, Afghanistan's team was able to score 115 runs for five wickets in 20 overs. In response, Bangladesh's team was all out for 105 runs in 17.5 overs. It got a revised target of 114 runs in 19 overs due to rain. When Bangladesh's team came to bat, rain interrupted many times. Bangladesh had to score 116 runs in 12.1 overs to qualify for the semi-finals. However, Afghanistan took wickets at regular intervals. Tanjid Hasan (0), captain Nazmul Hussain Shanto (5), and Shakib Al Hasan (0) could not do anything special. After this, Rashid Khan's brilliance was seen. He sent Soumya Sarkar, Tauhid Hridoy, Mahmudullah, and Rishad Hussain to the pavilion.

 

Liton Das remained at one end

 

However, Liton Das remained at one end. He scored the 11th half-century of his T20 international career. The match was halted in between due to rain and the umpires reduced one over. Under the Duckworth Lewis rule, Bangladesh got a target of 114 runs in 19 overs. Bangladesh had lost seven wickets for 80 runs. As soon as Gulbadin Naib sent Tanjim Hasan Shakib to the pavilion, the match became more exciting. Liton Das and Taskin Ahmed were at the crease. It seemed that Liton would win the match. Bangladesh needed 12 runs in the last 12 balls. Naveen Ul Haq came to bowl and he sent Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman to the pavilion on two consecutive balls to give Afghanistan victory and take them to the semi-finals. The Afghanistan team has reached the semi-finals of any ICC tournament for the first time.

 

Afghanistan's innings

 

Based on the disciplined performance of its bowlers, Bangladesh stopped Afghanistan at 115 runs for five wickets in the very important last group match of the T20 World Cup. Afghanistan's batsmen, especially the in-form opening pair, were disappointed. Rahmanullah Gurbaz scored 43 runs in 55 balls, while Ibrahim Zadran played 29 balls to score 18 runs. Azmatullah Omarzai scored 10 runs in 12 balls and Gulbadin Naib scored four runs and Mohammad Nabi scored one run. Karim Janat remained unbeaten on seven and captain Rashid Khan scored 19 runs in 10 balls. For Bangladesh, Rishad Hussain took three wickets for 26 runs in four overs, while Taskin Ahmed took one wicket for just 12 runs in four overs.