PESHAWAR, Jun 25 (APP):Afghanistan and India took berth into the semi-finals from the group-A after recording vital victories against their respective rivals Bangladesh and Australia in the ongoing ICC Twenty 20 World Cup simultaneously being played at United States of America and the last greens surfaces of West Indies.
Afghanistan in particular outshined their rival including Australia for the first time in history and succeeded in making into the semi-finals of any senior event for the first time.
Talking about Afghanistan’s victory, it was an unforgettable day when Afghanistan defeated Bangladesh by 8 runs to reach the semi-finals of any ICC Senior Men’s World Cup for the first time, also knocking Australia out of the tournament.
If Bangladesh had won the match, Australia would have reached the final four on the basis of run rate. And if Bangladesh had got the target in the 12th over, Bangladesh could have reached the semi-finals.
Afghanistan showed passion and secured a place in the final four, where they will face South Africa in Trinidad on June 27. On the same day, India and England will compete in the second semi-file at Guyana.
After the match, Rashid Khan said that it is our dream to reach the semi-finals. Rashid Khan said that only one person was watching Afghanistan reach the semi-finals and that was Brian Lara, we proved him right.
But the one moment that capped an emotionally-charged night in Kingston was Naveen-ul-Haq taking off after taking Bangladesh’s last wicket. This sealed Afghanistan’s first place in any senior men’s World Cup semi-final.
In Group-I of the ICCT20 World Cup Super-8 played in Kingston, Afghanistan beat Bangladesh by 8 under the Duckworth-Lewis method. Defeated by runs and qualified in the semi-finals of the mega ICC Twenty20 World Cup in a magnificent manner.
With this, Australia’s journey in the T20 World Cup has ended here. Naveen-ul-Haq was awarded the man of the match award. Chasing Afghanistan’s target of 115 runs, Bangladesh were bowled out for 105 runs in 17.5 overs.
Bangladesh got off to a disappointing start and with a total score of 16, Tanzeed Hasan was bowled lbw by Fazal Farooqui without opening the account. After that, Bangladesh’s innings faltered and could not manage throughout the match. Captain Najmalul Hasan (5), Shakib Al Hasan (0), Mahmudullah (6), Rashad Hasan (0), Tanzeem Hasan Shakib (3), Tashkin Ahmed (2), Mustafizur Rehman (0) returned to the pavilion soon.
Bangladesh opening batsman Layton Das resisted the Afghanistan attacks and remained unbeaten by scoring 54 runs off 49 balls with five fours and one six. Apart from this, Soumya Sarkar scored 10 runs and Tawheed Harde scored 14 runs.
On behalf of Afghanistan, fast bowlers Naveen Haq and Rashid Khan took four wickets each. Apart from this, Fasal Farooqui and Gulduddin Naib got one wicket each.
Earlier, Afghanistan won the toss and decided to bat first. Openers Rehmanullah Garbaz (43 runs) and Ibrahim Zadran (18 runs) shared a partnership of 59 runs for the first wicket.
After both the batsmen got out, the Bangladesh team tried to get back into the match. Azmatullah Omarzai got out after scoring 10 runs. Captain Rashid Khan scored 19 runs not out with the help of three sixes in 10 balls.
Rashad Hasan proved to be the most successful bowler by taking three wickets on behalf of Bangladesh. Apart from this, Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rehman got one wicket each.
In Group-I of the ICCT20 World Cup Super-8, India qualified for the semi-finals with an unbeaten record by winning all three matches. Afghanistan finished second with 4 points after winning two matches and losing one out of three matches and qualified for the semi-finals while remaining in position. Also, Australia lost three matches and finished third with two points, while Bangladesh lost all three matches and finished last.
Earlier, in their last Super-8 match of Group-I, India almost knocked them out of the tournament by defeating Australia. With this win, India have qualified for the semi-finals.
Rohit Sharma was awarded the man of the match award. Australia’s chase of India”s target of 206 in St. Lucia had a disappointing start. Australia suffered their first shock in the very first over. David Warner caught Surya at slip off Arsdeep’s last ball. Mitchell Marsh then got 3 chances.
He scored 37 and Travis Head scored 76. Glenn Maxwell was out after scoring 20 off 12 balls. Just this wicket turned the entire match towards India.
In 16.3 overs, Bumrah showed them the way to the pavilion. The Australian team could only score 181 in the allotted 20 overs and lost the match by 25 runs. With this defeat, Australia’s dream of qualifying for the T20 World Cup semi-finals was shattered.
On behalf of India, Arsdeep Singh took 3 wickets by giving 37 runs in 4 overs. Apart from this, Kuldeep Yadav took 2 wickets, Jasprit Bumrah and Akshar Patel took 1 each. Rohit Sharma was given off the match for playing a brilliant innings.
Thanks to Sharma’s innings of 92 runs scored 205 runs. Rohit scored 92 runs in 41 balls with the help of 8 sixes and 7 fours. Rohit had laid the foundations of a great target with this innings. He also created many records in this match. He hit 8 sixes and 7 fours, surpassing Yuvraj Singh’s record of 6 sixes in an innings in 2007. During his T20 career best innings of 92 runs, Rohit also surpassed Babar Azam’s record for most runs in T20. Rohit Sharma has now become the highest run scorer in T20 cricket. With this innings, he has scored a total of 4,165 runs in 149 innings of T20 cricket which includes maximum 5 centuries. Rohit Sharma became the first player to hit 200 sixes in the history of T20 International cricket during this match.
Apart from him, star batsman Virat Kohli failed once again by facing five balls and going for a duck. Wicket keeper Rishabh Pant scored 15 runs in 14 balls.
Along with this, Surya Kumar Yadav played an innings of 31 runs in 16 balls. Shivam Dubey also played an innings of 28 runs off 22 balls. Hardik Pandya hit a brilliant six in the last overs and helped the team score past 200. Apart from this, Ravindra Jadeja scored 9 runs in 5 balls which included a six. Marcus Stoinis and Marcus Stoinis for Australia as Mitchell Starc took 2.2 wickets. Josh Hedgewood did not get a wicket but conceded just 14 runs in 4 overs.
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