Afghanistan win thriller to oust Australia

KINGSTOWN, St Vincent (CMC):

AFGHANISTAN FORMALLY knocked double crown world champions Australia out of the ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup on Monday after their captain Rashid Khan and new-ball bowler Naveen-ul-Haq bowled them into the semi-finals with a dramatic eight-run win against Bangladesh under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method in St Vincent.

Khan, the globe-trotting, champion leg-spinner, grabbed four for 23 from his allotted four overs, and Naveen supported with four for 26 from 3.5 overs, as Bangladesh failed to successfully chase a revised target of 114 to win in 19 overs in their rain-marred Group 1 match of the Super Eight at the Arnos Vale Cricket Ground.

Naveen formalised the result well past midnight East Caribbean Time with successive balls in the 18th over when he bowled Taskin Ahmed for two and trapped Mustafizur Rahman lbw for a first-ball duck to end hopes of Bangladesh progressing to the next stage or sending the Australians through with a win.

The result meant that the Afghans will face South Africa in the first semi-final today at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad, while India, who beat the Aussies by 24 runs earlier in the day in St Lucia, will meet title holders England in the second semi-final tomorrow at the National Cricket Stadium in Guyana.

“It’s unbelievable, I don’t have any words to describe my feelings,” Khan told reporters during the official post-play news conference after the match.

“It’s a big achievement for us being in the semi-finals, and I think the cricket we have played in the whole tournament so far, I think we deserve to be in the semis.”

He added: “The way everyone took the responsibility of getting into the game and performing best for the team.

“I don’t know how I can describe my feeling, but it’s a massive, massive achievement for us as a team, and as a nation, to be in the semis; and now we are looking forward to the semis.”

While former West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo is embedded in the Afghanistan squad as a bowling consultant, Khan said it was the words of another former West Indies captain that inspired his side.

“I think the semi-final is going to be a massive, massive like inspiration for the youngsters back home in Afghanistan,” he said.

“That the Afghanistan team got into the semis for the first time – and we have done it at the under-19 level, but this level we haven’t done that. Even Super Eight was the first time for us.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling, and I think we have proved one person very right – and that was Brian Lara, the only person who mentioned Afghanistan to be in the top four. I think we told him that as well when we met him at the welcome party – we will make sure we prove that right as well.”

He said: “I think when you get the kind of great, great statements from a legend, as a team, I think it gives you lots of energy as well. We are capable – but as long we keep things very simple; and I think in the whole competition so far, we have kept things simple.

“Yes, there were some tough times, but we didn’t let ourselves down, and we always try to come back stronger.”

Opener Litton Das defied the weather and eagerness of his opponents to carry his bat for a resolute, unbeaten 54 from 59 balls to keep Bangladesh in the hunt throughout the chase, but no other batsman stood up, the conditions and changing DLS requirements eventually ruining their chances.

“We wanted to win the match,” Bangladesh captain Najmul Shanto Hossain said. “That was the initial plan. After the first innings when we saw 115 on the board, we had a plan that we could win in 12.1 overs – so that was the plan – but the batting group made a lot of poor decisions.”

Earlier, Rahmanullah Gurbaz led the way with 43 off 55 balls after Afghanistan won the toss and chose to bat.

Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran shared 59 for the fourth wicket, and when their stand was ended in the 11th over, the innings subsided with Khan providing a bit of drama in the final over when he threw his bat down the pitch at Karim Janat in fury, after his batting partner refused a second run.