The Afghanistan cricket team who erupted in joy after qualifying for the semi-finals faced a tragedy in the T20 World Cup 2024 semi-finals 1 played against South Africa. Afghan batters were left confused with South Africa’s aggressive bowling attack and ended up scoring just 56 runs in their most crucial game.
Afghanistan was scheduled to face South Africa to play the semi-final 1 of the 2024 T20 World Cup on June 27 in Trinidad. Neither Afghanistan nor South Africa changed their playing 11 and featured in the semi-final 1 with their previous match-winning combination players.
South Africa never faced any defeat in this tournament so far while Afghanistan made many dramatic innings to make their way into the semifinals. Particularly their last couple of matches pushed Afghanistan to a newer limit.
The Proteas’ men continued their momentum in the semi-finals and completely conquered Afghanistan with their skilful blowing attack.
Afghan’s 56 all-out in the 2024 T20 World Cup semi-final created numerous unwanted records for the men in blue. Afghan’s 56 against SA is their lowest T20I total and it is also the second lowest total by a full-member team in T20 WCs. England’s 55 against West Indies in the 2021 T20 World Cup is the lowest in the category.
20 runs is the lowest score that a team has lost 4 wickets in a T20 WC semifinal match. The previous lowest was Australia’s 42 runs against West Indies in 2012 at Colombo RPS.
From the beginning of the game, South African bowlers had the upper hand while Afghanistan batters struggled to build a partnership. Azmatullah’s 10 is the highest individual score for Afghanistan today while the team crossed the 50 runs mark with the help of 13 extras.
In the most crucial game, Rashid Khan decided to bat first after winning the toss. Speaking of the match data, at this venue, this is the first time a team won the toss and opted to bat first in 5 matches this World Cup. In those previous 4 matches, the chasing team won three. The average score batting first is 95 runs in those 4 games.
This will be the maiden T20 World Cup semi-final appearance for Afghanistan while South Africa has never won an ICC World Cup semi-final in the previous seven attempts. The Proteas Men have lost six and tied one game against AUS in 1999 at Edgbaston
The winner of the match will advance to the final while the loser will be knocked out of the tournament. With the dream of winning their maiden T20 World Cup titles, both teams will implement all their skills in order to win this which in turn will qualify them for the grand final.
The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 final will be played on June 29 in Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados. The winners of the semi final 1 and semi final 2 will play the grand FINAL.
Afghan opening batters Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz opened the inning while Marco Jansen opened the bowling attack for South Africa.
In the very first over, Jansen dismissed Gurbaz for duck and sent the tournament’s highest run-getter to the pavilion without making an impact on the scoreboard. Following the early dismissal, Afghanistan was expected to make a comeback but Jansen in the third over struck again and dismissed Gulbadin for 9 runs.
Like adding fuel to the fire, Rabada in the very next over for his part bagged a couple of wickets by dismissing Ibrahim Zadran(2) and Nabi(0). With another wicket in the fifth over, Afghanistan managed to score just 28 runs in the first powerplay after losing five wickets.
This will be the first time a team lost 5 wickets inside the powerplay of a WC semi-final.
Most wickets lost in Power Play in an innings this WC
- 5 – PNG vs AFG, Tarouba
- 5 – UGA vs WI, Providence
- 5 – UGA vs AFG, Providence
- 5 – IRE vs PAK, Lauderhill
- 5 – AFG vs SA, Tarouba
South Africa continued their aggressive attack after the power play by dismissing Azmatullah for 10 in the seventh over bowled by Nortje.
GONE! Azmatullah departs! 👀
Another wicket falls as Afghanistan batters have no answers to South Africa’s seam bowling! 🔥
Is the match completely swinging in South Africa’s favor? 🤔#SemiFinal1 👉 #SAvAFG | LIVE NOW | #T20WorldCupOnStar pic.twitter.com/pl7U4jMsFH
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) June 27, 2024
With six wickets down before reaching the 30 runs mark, Afghanistan now rely on their captain Rashid Khan to pull them out of this misery. But South African bowlers continued to strangle the Afghan batters and ended their inning for just 56 – which is the lowest T20I total for Afghanistan.
