Rashid Khan was a disappointed man but promised that he and his side would come back stronger after Afghanistan were outplayed by a clinical South Africa in the T20 World Cup semifinal at the Brian Lara Stadium, Tarouba in Trinidad on Thursday.
T20 World Cup 2024 Semi-final: South Africa vs Afghanistan – HIGHLIGHTS
“It was tough, tough for us as a team. We might have done better but the conditions didn’t allow us to do what we wanted. That’s how T20 cricket is, you need to be ready for all conditions,” said Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan at the post-match presentation.
Opting to bat, things went awry for the Afghans as South Africa pacers made optimum use of the substantial seam movement on offer. Afghanistan were in complete disarray as they lost half their side inside the Powerplay. The pace trio of Marco Jansen (3/16), Kagiso Rabada (2/14) and Anrich Nortje (2/7) shared seven wickets among themselves while spinner Tabraiz Shamsi (3/6) claimed three wickets. Azmatullah Omarzai with his 10 off 12 was the top-scorer for Afghanistan.
Rashid said that it was a great World Cup for them and they are proud of how they have played and achieved some excellent results here beating some big teams.
“I think they bowled really well. I think we got good success in this tournament because the seamers bowled really well, you need good starts. I think we were unlucky with Mujeeb’s injury, but our seamers and even Nabi bowled brilliantly with the new ball. That made our job easier as spinners. We have enjoyed this tournament,” Rashid said.
The Proteas put themselves in pole position to reach the final after they bowled out Afghanistan for a paltry 56. They then raced to the target with 67 balls to spare.
The Afghan skipper added that next time when they participate in an ICC event, the belief will be there but they know that there is still a lot of hard work to do and hopefully, they will perform better than this next time.
“We will accept playing a semi-final and losing to a top side like Africa. It is just the beginning for us, we have the confidence and belief to beat any side. We just need to keep our processes. This has been a great learning experience for us,” he said.
“What we take from the competition is the belief. We know we have the skills, it is just about managing tough situations, pressure situations. Some work to be done, specially in the middle order to take the innings deep. As I said, it is always learning for our team and we have achieved good results so far but we will come back doing more hard work, specially in the batting department,” Rashid added.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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