TAROUBA, Trinidad – Rashid Khan was hoisted onto the shoulders of his Afghan teammates in celebration and then formed a circle with the team and took his turn to dance on the field, all broadcast live to the TV audience.
The joy of reaching the Twenty20 World Cup semi-finals for the first time – at the expense of cricket powerhouse Australia – lasted long after the dramatic victory over Bangladesh in São Vicente.
On Wednesday, Afghanistan’s underdog team will go back to work against South Africa, who have been at or near the top of limited-overs cricket for decades but have never won a title in a global tournament.
And so the first of the T20 World Cup semi-finals in Trinidad will be a contest between the overachievers and underachievers of international cricket. The second semi-final on Thursday will feature two of the sport’s heavyweights, India and current champion England.
Rashid is one of the premier bowlers in the T20 format, a regular star in franchise leagues around the world. This is the pinnacle so far for him in national colors.
“It is a great achievement for us as a team and as a nation to be in the semi-finals,” he said. “The cricket we’ve played throughout the tournament so far – I think we deserve to be there.”
At the end of his post-match TV interview in the early hours of Tuesday morning, Rashid thanked the interviewer and then delivered a message in Pashto – an eastern Iranian language – to the team’s large crowd in Kabul.
Thousands of Afghans took to the streets of Kabul to celebrate the success of the national team in the Caribbean.
After reaching the second round in the previous three T20 World Cups, Afghanistan knocked out New Zealand in the group stage and then win Australia for the first time last weekend to advance to the final four.
Defeats to co-hosts West Indies in the group stage and India in the second round were reality checks that could serve the team well in the knockout stages.
“It’s a case of just looking at what we need to improve on, which are a few small areas… nothing too major,” Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott said of the approach to the semi-finals. “It’s just kind of a mindset shift. But I also think we reached the semi-final without any scars or history in relation to the semi-finals.”
Trott was born in Cape Town and represented South Africa at junior level before moving and playing cricket for England. He is well aware of South Africa’s history in world cricket tournaments and made a point of saying that it is “uncharted territory” for Afghanistan.
“There are no preconceived ideas, no history of failure or success in the semi-finals,” he said. “For us it is a new challenge and I think that makes us dangerous in the semi-finals as a team with nothing to lose and obviously with a lot of pressure. the opposition.”
Rob Walter, who has been the head coach of South Africa’s national teams since the start of 2023, is well aware of the magnitude of the match.
“It’s never just another game. I think this kind of rhetoric around semi-finals is always false, or people try to downplay the occasion,” he said. “It’s a World Cup semi-final and we appreciate that and we’re looking forward to it.”
South Africa are unbeaten in the tournament, but had to endure a tighter than expected victory over lower-placed Nepal, difficult games against the Netherlands, Bangladesh and England and only beat the West Indies with five balls to spare in the Super Eight stage.
“We managed to exceed the target in several games played before the semi-final, which has been great for us.” he said. “We potentially missed some of those moments in the past.”
Afghanistan’s performance was inspired by the career-best form of individual pitchers and batsmen.
Three of the tournament’s top five wicket-takers are from Afghanistan, led by fast bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi with 16. Rashid Khan, who claimed a four-wicket victory against Bangladesh, has 14. Fast bowler Naveen-ul-Haq has 13.
South Africa’s leading wicket-takers in the tournament were fast bowlers Anrich Nortje at No. 8 with 11 wickets and Kagiso Rabada with 10.
Opening batsmen Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran formed three century partnerships for Afghanistan and are among the top three run-scorers in the tournament with 281 and 229 respectively.
South Africa’s strong batting line-up has not worked as a unit so far in the tournament, with only Quinton de Kock – at No. 6 with 199 runs – in the top 10. opposing team and are desperate to make their own history.
“The near misses of the past belong to the people who lost them,” Walter said. “We own everything that is ours. And so, our closest point of reflection is this tournament where we managed to get over the line. So that’s what we think about.”
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This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
