Following the nine-wicket defeat to South Africa in the semi-finals of the ICC T20 World Cup, Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan expressed disappointment with the defeat but happiness with the team’s overall campaign, pointing to the success of the seamers and spinners in this “great learning experience”. Afghanistan’s inexperience in big matches was visible when their batting line-up dwindled to just 56 runs thanks to the fiery spells of pacers Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen in the powerplay and Tabraiz Shamsi’s spin. The Proteas, on the other hand, have overcome a seven-match winless streak in the semi-finals of any ICC Cricket World Cup and are set to face either India or England in a historic final.
After the game, captain Rashid said during the post-match presentation, “It was difficult, difficult for us as a team. We could have done better, but the conditions didn’t allow us to do what we wanted. That’s how T20 cricket is, you needs to be ready for all conditions. I think they bowled very well. I think we had good success in this tournament because the seamers played very well, I think we were unlucky with Mujeeb’s injury and even Nabi played brilliantly with the new one. ball. This made our job as spinners easier.
The captain also said that there is some work to be done on his middle-order batting line-up but the team is quite confident after this historic first semi-final.
“We enjoyed this tournament. We will accept playing a semi-final and losing to a top team like Africa. It’s just the beginning for us, we have the confidence and belief to beat any team. We just need to stick to our processes. This has been a big learning for us. What we take from the competition is our belief. We know we have the skills, it’s just about dealing with difficult situations, pressure situations in the middle, to go deep in the tackles, like I said, it’s. It’s always a learning experience for our team, and we’ve achieved good results so far, but we’re back with more hard work, especially in the batting department,” he added. .
Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bat first. However, pacers Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen made the Asian team regret their decision, reducing it to 28/6. Although Karim Janat (8) and captain Rashid Khan (8) tried to launch a counterattack with some boundaries, Proteas defeated Afghanistan for just 56 runs in 11.5 overs.
Tabraiz Shamsi (3/6) and Marco Jansen (3/16) were the best bowlers for the Proteas. Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje also took two wickets each.
In the chase, Proteas lost de Kock early. However, Reeza Hendricks (29* off 25 balls, with three fours and a six) and captain Aiden Markram (23* off 21 balls, with four boundaries) led SA to the winning score in 8.5 overs.
With this victory, the Proteas overcame a run of seven consecutive World Cup semi-final victories in both ODIs and T20I formats and reached their first final. Afghanistan’s inspirational and dream journey ended in the semi-finals.
Jansen received the ‘Player of the Game’ award.
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