Rashid Khan was furious with Karim Janat during the Afghanistan vs Bangladesh match.©AFP
Rashid Khan was the hero of Afghanistan’s Super 8 win against Bangladesh, which secured their place in the semi-finals of the 2024 T20 World Cup, but one incident showed that even the best teams have their bad moments. Batting first in a tense match, Rashid Khan came up to bat with his team struggling at 93 for 5 with 14 balls remaining in the innings. So when Afghanistan failed to turn one run into two, Rashid became enraged at teammate Karim Janat and hurled his bat at him in anger.
The incident took place on the third ball of the final over of Afghanistan’s innings (19.3). Rashid’s shot flew towards the cover region and he thought he had a second ball but it was smashed back through mid-pitch by Janat.
The Afghanistan captain was furious and quickly showed his frustration by hurling his bat at Janat before charging back to the crease.
Rashid’s anger was understandable. The Afghanistan captain had hit two sixes prior to the incident and wanted to get the strike back. Luckily, Rashid got the strike back one ball later, hitting his third six to end Afghanistan’s innings.
Rashid’s 10 consecutive balls produced 19 runs, helping Afghanistan to a defendable total of 115 and improving their chances of qualifying for the semi-finals.
Afghanistan needed a win to progress to the semi-finals for the first time in a major ICC tournament, and Bangladesh were on course to win, but it was Rashid who turned the tide of the game with the ball.
Rashid took Bangladesh’s fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh wickets to thwart the run chase, and Afghanistan eventually won by 8 runs (DLS method) while Bangladesh were beaten by 105 runs.
Afghanistan will face South Africa in the first semi-final at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad on June 27. A win would see them face either India or England in the 2024 T20 World Cup final.
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