Image Credit- ICC
In a match that was as start-stop as they come owing to multiple rain interventions, making it even more dramatic in the bigger context, Afghanistan – led by four-fors from Naveen and Rashid – edged out Bangladesh by a mere eight runs, and in the process, also knocked Australia out of the T20 World Cup 2024.
The last hour or so was spent playing cat and mouse. There were times when Afghanistan had the advantage on the DLS par score, but Bangladesh was able to overturn the result by taking wickets.
A non-enterprising start is one of the strategies that has worked for Afghanistan and their World Cup openers. Following their usual pattern, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran did not take many chances on the powerplay or in the first 10 overs. They were 27 for 0 at the end of the powerplay and 58 for 0 at the ten-over point.
The wind was blowing diagonally from right to left, in the direction of Rishad’s natural spin, when he was called on in the ninth over. He beat Ibrahim’s outside edge right away, and he utilised the bounce to have the leading edge of the same batter caught at long off in his second over.
In his third over, Gurbaz then turned the tables on Rishad. But in his final over, Rishad had the last laugh when he got Gurbaz to hole out for deep cover. He also saw Gulbadin Naib misplay a slice in the direction of cover point a few balls later. If Sarkar hadn’t dashed in from the deep and dove forward almost to the 30-meter circle, Naib could have managed to escape. And with that, Afghanistan had ceded early advantage to slip from 59 for 0 to 89 for 4.
At 93 for 5, with just 14 balls remaining, Rashid entered. He faced ten of them, tried to attack on nine of them, and ended up finishing on 19 without being out. Just as the skies in Kingstown opened up, he assisted Afghanistan in reaching a total they could contend with, helping them score 22 in the final 14 balls.
Afghanistan’s weapon with the new ball, Fazalhaq Farooqi, took his 16th wicket with his third ball when he trapped Tanzid Hasan leg before wicket.
Litton struck Naveen for a four and a six in his costly opening over. Then, in his second over, Najmul Hossain Shanto blasted one over midwicket. However, Naveen again produced a length ball angling into Shanto, who took out the fielder there, with a deep midwicket in place. Bangladesh were 23 for 3 when Naveen’s subsequent ball managed to straighten just enough to capture Shakib Al Hasan’s leading edge for a return catch.
Bangladesh gave conflicting signals following the second break in the rain. In an attempt to attack Rashid, Soumya Sarkar was knocked down by Litton’s attack on Naveen. Although Towhid Hridoy’s gamble, which included a dropped catch against Mohammad Nabi, paid off, he also holed out against Rashid. However, Bangladesh appeared to be on course to chase the goal down in order to qualify when Litton hit Rashid for two consecutive fours, one over mid-off and the other just past slip.
but gave conflicting messages. In an attempt to attack Rashid, Soumya Sarkar was knocked down by Litton’s attack on Naveen. Although Towhid Hridoy’s gamble, which included a dropped catch against Mohammad Nabi, paid off, he also holed out against Rashid. However, Litton struck Rashid for two consecutive fours, one over mid-off and the other just past slip – Bangladesh looked on track to hunt the target down to qualify.
Due to the indecisiveness of Mahmudullah and the adventurousness of Rishad Hossain, they were reduced to 80 for 7 after 11 overs. At that point, the rainy clouds reappeared and continued to linger over the stadium, providing consistent coverage of the DLS par scores for the remainder of the evening.
Litton seemed to remain composed despite mounting strain. With a strike rate of less than 100 and an unimpressive 2024 in Twenty20 Internationals, his standing in the Bangladeshi lineup is in doubt. However, he got off to a deliberate start and maintained their aspirations of finishing the T20 World Cup victorious. Still, it was not intended to be.