afghanistan Defeated at 115 for 5 (Gurbaz 43, Rishad 3-26) bangladesh 105 (Litton 54*, Rashid 4-23, Naveen 4-26) by eight runs via DLS method
Both teams, along with Australia, were in the race for a semi-final spot from Group 1 of the Super Eights and rain added to the drama. The game of cat and mouse went on for most of the last hour. There were moments when Bangladesh bowled out Afghanistan for an even score on DLS, but later came back with wickets to take the lead.
To send both Australia and Afghanistan into the semi-finals, Bangladesh had to achieve the original target of 116 runs in 12.1 overs. Their pursuit was delayed by half an hour due to 20 minutes of heavy rain. Therefore, the short game was disadvantageous for Bangladesh.
However, Bangladesh sent mixed signals after the second spell of rain. Liton attacked Naveen but Soumya Sarkar fell in an attempt to do the same against Rashid. Tauheed Hridoy’s risk against Mohammad Nabi, which included a dropped catch, was reduced, but he too was caught out by Rashid. But with consecutive fours by Liton off Rashid – first at mid-off and then just behind the slips – Bangladesh were on track to chase down the target to qualify.
But soon, due to Mahmudullah’s indecision and Rishad Hussain’s adventurousness, their score read 80 for 7 after 11 overs. This comes as rainy clouds continue to hover around the stadium, and consecutive DLSs throughout the rest of the night bring even scores into the picture.
In the face of increasing pressure, Lytton maintained his composure. He had a forgettable 2024 in T20Is, scoring less than 100 and his place in the Bangladesh team was in question. But they started with determination and kept their hopes of bidding farewell to the T20 World Cup on a winning note. But this was not to happen.
Naveen’s first over was expensive, in which Liton hit him for a four and a six. Then Nazmul Hossain Shanto took a single over midwicket in his second over. But with deep midwicket, Naveen once again bowled a length ball, angling towards Shanto, who edged out the fielder there. After this, Naveen straightened the next ball so much that Shakib Al Hasan’s leading edge reached for the return catch and Bangladesh’s score became 23 runs for 3 wickets.
One of the methods that has worked for Afghanistan and their opening batsmen in this World Cup is non-enterprising starts. Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran continued to be in form and took very few chances in the powerplay as well in the first ten overs. They finished the powerplay at 27 for 0 and were at 58 for 0 after ten overs.
This was Gurbaz and Ibrahim’s fourth half-century partnership, the most by any pair in the T20 World Cup. There were only 15 attempts at aggressive shots in the first ten overs, that too on a surface that was slowing down and was likely to see dew later.
When Rishad was brought in for the ninth over, the wind was blowing diagonally from right to left in the direction of his natural spin. He immediately beat Ibrahim’s outside edge, and used the bounce to catch the same batsman’s leading edge at long-off in his second over.
After this Gurbaz attacked Rishad in his third over. He first slapped one over cover point to end the phase of 38 legal balls without any boundaries, and then used a sweep through the backward-square-leg region for another four. However, Rishad had the last laugh when he dismissed Gurbaz to deep cover in his last over. A few balls later, he also got Gulbadin Naib missing a slice towards cover point. Naib could have survived had it not been for Sarkar, who quickly came in from the depth and dived forward to a depth of about 30 metres. And just like that, Afghanistan went from 59 for 0 to 89 for 4 after losing their initial lead.
Rashid was out after scoring 93 runs for 5 wickets with just 14 balls remaining. He faced ten of them, attempted attacking shots on nine of them, and remained unbeaten on 19 runs. He hit three sixes, two of which were in the last over bowled by Tanzeem Hasan Saqib. He generally made good use of the willow, except for one occasion when he lofted it towards his teammate Karim Janat. It was the last over of the innings and Rashid wanted another run to maintain the strike but Janat refused. Nevertheless, he helped Afghanistan score 22 runs off the last 14 balls, helping them fight back the total, as the skies opened up in Kingstown.
Afghanistan faced 66 dot balls in their innings, the third-most by a team losing five or fewer wickets in men’s T20Is, where ball-by-ball records are available with ESPNcricinfo. But it did not come back to haunt Afghanistan, who successfully kept a clean slate of total defense in St Vincent.
S Sudarshan is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @sudarshan7
This post was published on 06/25/2024 12:07 am
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