The Afghanistan cricket team continued their brilliant form in the 2024 T20 World Cup as they defeated Bangladesh in a thriller to book their place in the semi-finals on Tuesday. This was the first time that Afghanistan had qualified for the semi-finals of any International Cricket Council (ICC) event. The Rashid Khan-led team is on a giant killing spree with a win over New Zealand in the group stage and a sensational victory over Australia in the Super 8. Afghanistan needed a win over Bangladesh to book their place in the semi-finals and o The result also meant that Australia were eliminated. After the victory, Rashid received a call from Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.
– Afghanistan Cricket Board (@ACBofficials) June 25, 2024
In a video published by the Afghanistan Cricket Board on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Muttaqi was seen congratulating Rashid on the sensational victory. Muttaqi started the conversation with “Mubarak” and left a special message for Rashid and the rest of the Afghanistan team.
Afghanistan will now face South Africa in the first semi-final of the 2024 T20 World Cup on Thursday.
“It’s like a dream for us as a team to be in the semi-final. It’s all about how we started the tournament. The belief came when we beat New Zealand. It’s unbelievable.”
“I have no words to describe how I feel. At home, everyone is very happy for this great achievement. The only guy who put us in the semi-final was Brian Lara and we proved it. Before the competition at the welcome party, I told him, ‘We’re not going to let you down. We’re going to survive and prove you right.’ I’m proud of this team. We thought 130-135 was a good total on this wicket.”
“We were 15-20 runs short. It was all about mentality. We knew they were going to attack us to chase it down in 12 overs to get to the semi-final. That’s where we could take advantage. If we fell on the stumps, we had a better chance of take them out. We didn’t have to do anything extra. We just had to be clear with our plans.
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