——— Semi-final schedule for T20 World Cup 2024 confirmed
——— England to face India, whereas, Afghanistan will compete against South Africa in semi-final matches of tournament
Sports Desk
Arnos Vale: Afghanistan advanced to their first-ever T20 World Cup semi-final after completing a dramatic eight-run victory over Bangladesh in a rain-affected clash at the Arnos Vale Stadium in St Vincent on Mon-day.
Defending a modest total of 115 for five on a bowler-friendly surface, Afghan captain Rashid Khan be-lied three rain stoppages, a slippery ball and a revised target of 114 off 19 overs to take four for 23 as Bangladesh, who themselves harboured faint hopes of making the last four, were dismissed for 105 off 17.5 overs.
An unbeaten 54 from opener Litton Das was threatening to take Bangladesh to victory and earn Aus-tralia the last semi-final spot on net run-rate.
But pacer Naveenul Haq claimed the last two wickets — Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman — off consecutive deliveries in the penultimate over of the match to trigger delirious Afghan celebrations.
With India defeating Australia earlier in the day and advancing to the second semi-final against England in Guyana on Thursday, this result assured the Afghans of second spot in the group and eliminated the Aussies together with the Bangladeshis.
Afghanistan will now face South Africa in the first semi-final in Trinidad on Wednesday.
Fast bowler Josh Hazlewood believes there is no “drastic” need to cull Australia’s ageing squad despite the failure to make the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup.
By the time the next World Cup rolls around in India and Sri Lanka in 2026, only one of the current 15-man squad — Cameron Green — will still be well under 30.
Green, a 24-year-old all-rounder, didn’t get to play a game in this World Cup.
“There might be a couple of changes, but a lot of the guys still play in the franchise cricket if they’re not playing for Australia, so they’re available to be picked,” said Hazlewood, himself 33.
“There’s some class players in our 15, And we’ve got a couple on the bench as well. So, you’d think it’d be an actual slow change. I don’t think there’d be anything drastic.”
What does need drastic attention is Australia’s woeful performance in the field at the tournament.
Five catches were dropped in the 21-run defeat to Afghanistan in St Vincent.
Skipper Mitchell Marsh dropped three in the group game against Scotland and crucially let the destruc-tive Hardik Pandya off the hook in the loss to India.
Pandya went on to make an undefeated 27 off 17 balls.
“The guys are always working as hard as ever on the fielding and training and there might not be as many opportunities to work on it around games in these sort of tournaments,” said Hazlewood.
“You’re always travelling and playing. So yeah, it hasn’t been good enough for the last few games in particular.”
Hazlewood said it was “very windy” in St Lucia and that could have been a contributing factor in their sub-par performance in the field.
“It’s just as hard catching into the wind as it is down breeze, as we saw today with India as well,” he said.
“So, you see some really good fielders drop catches and I guess it’s out of the ordinary but I think once you put all that together, new stadium, windy, they’re not excuses but I guess it’s something. “
Meanwhile, The T20 World Cup 2024 is nearing its end from the 20 teams at the beginning to coming down to the last four who will be playing in the semi-final on June 27 in the West Indies.
After England and South Africa, India became the third team to qualify for the T20 World Cup semi-final on Monday. The Men in Blue beat Australia by 24 runs in their recent match.
On the other side, Afghanistan beat Bangladesh by 8 runs (DLS method) in the final Super 8 match of the tournament on Tuesday to qualify for the final four.
For the first time in history, the Rashid Khan-led unit have qualified for the semi-finals of a World Cup.
Bangladesh were bowled out for 105 in 17.5 overs while chasing a target of 116 runs, which was later reduced to 114 in 19 overs due to rain.
As Afghanistan registered an historic win, opener Litton Das remained unbeaten on 54 runs in 49 balls, but ran out of partners at the other end.
Rashid and pacer Naveen-ul-Haq led the way with the ball as both claimed four wickets each.
The match was interrupted multiple times due to rain in the second innings leaving fans on the edge of their seats.
The chase started with three teams, Australia, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, still in the running for a place in the semi-finals. Bangladesh needed to chase 115 in 12.4 overs to book their spot, Australia re-quired a Bangladesh win after 12.4 overs and Afghanistan needed just a victory. The scenarios made the match exciting but in the end it was Afghanistan who got over the line.
