The State of Play
Pride and a place in the semi-finals are on the line at the 2024 T20 World Cup as Afghanistan meet Bangladesh in the final Super Eight match of the tournament.
Bangladesh cannot move past the current phase but after Afghanistan’s shock win over Australia, they still have a chance to progress.
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There is a big opportunity for both teams to round their summer off on a high when they battle at the Arnos Vale Stadium in St. Vincent.
Afghanistan have been one of the surprise packages of the tournament and initially shocked New Zealand in the group stages.
They set a target of 159 after 20 overs and New Zealand could only muster 75 before losing their 10th and final wicket.
Having followed that up with a win over Papua New Guinea, Afghanistan booked their place in the Super 8s and finally put some points on the board against Australia previously losing to India.
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India beat them by 47 runs and only Azmatullah Omarzai was able to break past 20 runs in the match, while Fazalhaq Farooqi and Rashid Khan did impress by taking three wickets each.
It was a disappointing performance considering the high they had been on, but their form returned against the Aussies.
Afghanistan set a score of 148 that the Baggy Greens could not catch, being bowled all-out for just 127.
It was the shock of the tournament so far and Rashid Khan was delighted with the result and is expecting his side to now push on for a place in the semi-finals.
He said: “It’s a massive win for us as a team and as a nation.
“In a World Cup, to beat champions [Australia are 50-over world champions] is a great feeling and it is something we have missed.
“It’s just the beginning for us and we have every chance of making the semis.”
To do so, they must beat Bangladesh and hope Australia lose to India, or they better their net run rate.
Bangladesh have been around about where everyone expected them to be and the semi-finals look to be just a step too far.
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They came through the group stages having beaten Nepal, the Netherlands and Sri Lanka but like their opponents, have struggled against the giants of cricket in the Super 8s.
Against India, they gave up 196 runs and no bowler who took three or more over kept the batsmen below 30 runs.
And in the chase, although they did not lose all of their wickets, they found it hard to put up such a high score set by their opponents.
Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto led his team in the charge, putting up 40, but it did take him 32 deliveries to do so.
It was that and perhaps Tanzid Hasan’s 29 from 31 balls that prevented Bangladesh from hitting higher and Shanto gave full credit to India for making it as difficult as possible for them.
He said: “We were thinking that 160-170 as being good for us, but the way they batted, the credit goes to them.
“I think we have a lot of batting options but we didn’t show as much as we needed, and chasing 190+ we should have got more in the first six overs.”
Expected Line-ups
Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (w), Ibrahim Zadran, Najibullah Zadran, Hazratullah Zazai, Gulbadin Naib, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan (c), Noor Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi
Bangladesh: Tanzid Hasan, Litton Das (wk), Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Towhid Hridoy, Shakib Al Hasan, Jaker Ali, Mahmudullah, Rishad Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Mustafizur Rahman.
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How to watch
Sky have the rights to show the T20 World Cup to UK viewers in 2024 and will broadcast every game live. Coverage gets underway on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Cricket from 1am UK time on Tuesday morning.
In India, the games can be streamed on Disney + Hotstar app and website. They are also available across the Star Sports Network.
Prediction
Both sides will want to end their tournament with a win but there is now so much on the line for Afghanistan.
On paper, Bangladesh should be favourites, but Afghanistan have surprised everyone with how good they have been this summer.
Either way, we should see two high-scores from both batting teams and this one will come down to how good the bowling is.
We are going with an Afghanistan win here as they chase a semi-final spot.
