Rahmanullah Gurbaz In Tears After Afghanistan Earn Historic T20 World Cup Semifinal Berth – WATCH
Afghanistan opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz is the highest run-getter in the T20 World Cup 2024 so far with 281 runs from seven games.
New Delhi: Rahamanullah Gurbaz couldn’t contain his emotions after Afghanistan scripted history by qualifying for the T20 World Cup semifinals for the first-ever time on Tuesday at Arnos Vale Ground in Kingstown, beating Bangladesh by eight runs via DLS method. Afghanistan will take on South Africa in the first semifinal on June 27 in Trinidad.
Gurbaz, who left the field midway in the game due to a knee injury, was caught in tears in the dressing room soon after the final Bangladeshi wicket. Later, Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott carried Gurbaz on his shoulders as the whole team did a victory lap around the ground, thanking their fans for their support.
Batting first, Afghanistan rode on Gurbaz’s 43 off 55 balls to post 115/5 in 20 overs. In reply, Litton Das (54 not out) fought the lone battle for Bangladesh with a fighting unbeaten half-century but lacked support from his teammates. The match also saw several rain interruptions before the target was reduced to 114 runs in 19 overs. In the end, Bangladesh were all out for 105 in 17.5 overs with Rashid Khan and Naveen-ul-Haq taking four wickets each.
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Notably, Gurbaz is also the current top run-getter in the tournament so far with 281 runs in seven innings and an average of 40.14. He opened his T20 World Cup campaign on a high note with knocks of 76 and 80 against Uganda and New Zealand respectively. Against Australia, Gurbaz scored 60 runs as his attacking intent at the top helped Afghanistan’s getting a solid start in the powerplay.
Naveen, who was awarded Player of the Match because of his match winning spell of 4/26, remarked that Afghanistan always felt confident due to Bangladesh’s high-tempo playing style. “We have worked so hard over the past few years and we were dreaming and working for this day,” he said.
“I’m lost for words. We always knew that they were going hard in the powerplay to chase the total down in 12.1 overs so we knew we were in the game as long as we kept picking wickets. We had confidence that these wickets are not high-scoring wickets,” added the pacer.
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For the unknown, Afghanistan made their first T20 World Cup appearance in 2010. Since then, the side have gotten better with experience. This was their seventh appearance in the tournament and are just twi wins shy of a historic title.