Rashid Khan's Afghanistan cricket team's dream run in the ongoing edition of the T20 World Cup 2024 came to an end as they suffered a brutal 9-wicket loss against Aiden Markram-led South Africa in the first semi-final at the Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad, on June 27 (Thursday). Despite the heartbreaking defeat, they would be happy to come so far in the tournament. Even their star pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi created history during the match after shattering a big record.
Fazalhaq Farooqi creates historic record
Fazalhooq Farooqi took the wicket of Quinton de Kock in his very first over of the semi-final match, this was also the only wicket Proteas lost in the match. With this wicket, the pacer created a big record and became the first bowler with most wickets in a single edition of the T20 World Cup. He ended his campaign in this mega tournament with 17 wickets. The previous best was 16 wickets from the Sri Lankan all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga. He reached this feat during the last edition of the marquee event in 2022.
Farooqi has been one of the key players in Afghanistan's dream run. He took 17 wickets in 8 matches with an astonishing average of 9.41. He has taken one four-fer and a five-wicket haul during this run. His bowling provided Afghanistan with crucial breakthroughs and dominate the opposition's batting line-up early in the game itself.
Rashid Khan on loss in the semi-final
The Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan addressed the big defeat and said they could have done better but were also happy with the way they have performed in this mega tournament and for reaching this stage. He also praised his players for rising up and giving their best performances and said that they will work more on their batting department as this is just the beginning for their team.
"It was tough, tough for us as a team. We might have done better but the conditions didn't allow us to do what we wanted. That's how T20 cricket is, you need to be ready for all conditions. I think they bowled really well. I think we got good success in this tournament because the seamers bowled really well, you need good starts. I think we were unlucky with Mujeeb's injury, but our seamers and even Nabi bowled brilliantly with the new ball. That made our job easier as spinners. We have enjoyed this tournament. We will accept playing a semi-final and losing to a top side like Africa," said Rashid in the post-match presentation.
“It is just the beginning for us, we have the confidence and belief to beat any side. We just need to keep our processes. This has been a great learning experience for us. What we take from the competition is the belief. We know we have the skills, it is just about managing tough situations, pressure sitautions. Some work to be done, specially in the middle order to take the innings deep. As I said, it is always learning for our team and we have acheived good results so far but we come back doing more hard work, specially in the batting department,” he added.
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