Australia were eliminated from the T20 World Cup after a player faked a hamstring injury to steal a spot in Afghanistan’s hard-fought, rain-affected match on Tuesday afternoon (AEST).
India and Afghanistan advanced to the knockout stage, while Australia lost to both countries, resulting in the tournament’s end.
Afghanistan all-rounder Gulbadin Naib was seen pretending to succumb to hamstring cramps as rain lashed the Caribbean island of St Vincent in a match that was repeatedly halted by rain.
Watch select NRL, AFL and SSN matches, plus every F1 qualifying session and race, live in 4K on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now.
What is significant is that the (DLS) target fixed at the time of his action, before cover was momentarily required, was then in favor of his side.
It was Afghanistan who lost wickets when it mattered most, and Bangladesh were never in control of the match.
As a result, the Tigers failed to give Australia the maximum benefit by beating Afghanistan in one of the most unprecedented matches in cricket’s long history.
Tigers starter Litton Dodd batted confidently, pitching a no-hitter of 54 off 49 pitches, his innings including five walks and one six.
His performance was the only thing giving Australia hope of an upset, but he ended up smacking the bat at the other end as the tail-end men Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman were run out in succession.
Bangladesh needed just nine runs off seven balls to end the match but had Das had one last chance to finish it off for his team, the match could have easily swung in Australia’s favour.
Bangladesh were set a target of 116 in 20 overs and needed to chase that total in 12.1 overs to surpass Australia and Afghanistan and enter the top four.
If Australia had chased the total but scored more points than the shortened over count, they would have remained in second place and progressed to the next round.
But in the end, Afghanistan prevailed, overtaking Australia from third place to reach the country’s first ever T20 World Cup semi-final.
Head is bothering India again! | 01:09
Australia’s 24-run defeat to India this morning set in motion this unprecedented chain of events that ultimately dashed Australia’s hopes of reaching the last four of the tournament and placed Australia’s fate entirely in the hands of the bottom two teams.
Afghanistan won the toss and were handed the batting position, but Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto said he would have bowled even if he had won the toss.
The Tigers got off to a strong start, bowling seven dot balls in the first two overs to restrict Afghanistan to 0-5.
Tanzim Hasan Saqib’s second over was unfortunately not as economical, forcing a four with some wild bounce and then a four through the covers on the next ball, from which Afghanistan scored 11 runs.
Openers Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz showed lightning speed between the wickets and put the Bangladesh fielders on alert from the very first ball.
Veteran all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan was brought into the attack in the fifth over of the innings and his left-arm orthodox bowling quickly created opportunities.
After just the third ball, Ibrahim was run out by young batsman Tawhid Hridoi at short cover – a very tough chance but one that would have gone a long way to Australia’s unlikely passage to the semi-finals, and Bangladesh’s even more unlikely one.
And despite missing chances and failing to pick up a wicket in the powerplay, Bangladesh finished the sixth period in front to restrict Afghanistan to 0-27, their lowest powerplay score of the tournament.
Off the last ball of the seventh over, Gurbaz recorded his team’s first maximum score of the innings, coming down the wicket to a Shakib delivery to give Afghanistan some much-needed bounce.
“Why are you floating the ball? Why not just hit it towards the pads?” former New Zealand fast bowler Simon Doul said of the sixes.
Tanzim Hasan Saqib again hit the short ball at a brisk pace into the pitch, this time in the third over, leading to five wides to add to the four byes he got from a similar ball, giving Afghanistan a further advantage.
Rohit smashes Starc for four sixes in the first over | 01:13
At 0-58 at the halfway point of their innings, the scores were still fairly even, although Afghanistan were clearly the favourites with 10 wickets in hand.
Almost on cue, Rishad Hossain scored 18 runs off 29 balls, getting Ibrahim out with a whiffed shot running over long-off, breaking the menacing partnership of the Afghanistan opening duo.
Afghanistan managed just 22 runs between the 10th and 15th overs to finish at a bizarre 1-80 with five overs remaining in the innings.
“At the moment they’re doing everything to make it a possibility (to reach the semi-finals) … their line (and) length is just incredible,” Doul said.
“Bangladesh will be ecstatic, absolutely ecstatic,” former New Zealand wicketkeeper Ian Smith added in the 16th over.
The first batsman to be dropped, Azmatullah Omarzai (10 off 12), was dismissed shortly after Smith’s comments after being initially ruled out for a caught ball by Bangladesh.
“They’re not scoring enough goals at this point, it’s in doubt to an extent,” Smith added after Omarzai’s dismissal.
Gurbaz didn’t ease up on his grip with the bat for the first time that night and tried to increase the rate early in the top of the 17th over but was eventually run out by Soumya Sarkar at deep cover to reduce Afghanistan to 3-89.
Sarkar then took another magnificent catch later in the over to push Gulbadin Naib for four off three balls.
Rashid Khan scored 15 in the final over to take Afghanistan from 5-100 to 5-115 as the superstar all-round bowler finished off the innings with a six-run shot from 98 metres over the cow corner.
Khan scored 19 off 10 balls and Karim Janat also scored seven off six balls to end the match in the red.
A 30-minute rain stop during an innings break further complicated the situation, resulting in a damp outfield and faster pitches.
Bangladesh’s innings began brilliantly with opener Litton Das scoring 13 runs in his first over.
However, his partner Tanjid Hasan was felled by Fazal Haq Farooqui after just three balls to allow Afghanistan to tie the score.
Captain Shanto and veteran Al Hasan fell in succession soon after, leaving Bangladesh struggling at 3.23 after 2.5 overs.
Rain again halted the match but Bangladesh managed to recover.
Soumya Sarkar’s 10 points gave the Tigers a mini cameo, with Das standing at the other end pleading with his partner to stay with him.
Unfortunately, apart from Sarkar, no Bangladesh batsman could score more than six runs as Afghanistan chipped away at wickets one by one in the most dramatic fashion.
One final rain shower between the ninth and tenth wickets saw the match finish just after midnight, but it was no cause for concern for the Afghanistan fans and players.