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Afghanistan's Naveen-ul-Haq trapped Mustafizur Rahman leg before in the 18th over of the Bangladesh chase, setting off a historic victory for his home nation. Afghanistan will now take on South Africa on June 26, at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy Stadium in Trinidad and Tobago.
Though Afghanistan have been feisty competitors in modern-day cricket, not many would've predicted their inspirational run to the semis. Brian Lara was an exception to the same, for the former West Indies legend had predicted that the Afghans would make it all the way to the semi-finals.
And after their sensational win over Bangladesh, Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan was proud at having proven him right.
"I think we have proved one person very right: Brian Lara, the only person who mentioned Afghanistan to be in the top four, in semis. I think we told him that as well when we met him in the welcome party – we will make sure we prove that right as well," Rashid said at the post-game press conference.
“I think when you get the kind of great, great statements from a legend, as a team, I think it gives you lots of energy as well.
"We are capable – but as long we keep the things very simple and I think in the whole competition so far, we kept the thing simple. Yes, there were some tough times but we didn't let ourselves down and we always try to come back stronger.”
Naveen-ul-Haq's spell changed the game
The bowling all-rounder was excited about their first-ever semi-final appearance in senior men's cricket, and believed it to be a great inspiration for the youngsters in Afghanistan.
“I think the semi-final is going to be a massive, massive inspiration for the youngsters back home in Afghanistan. That Afghanistan team got into the semis for the first time.
"And we have done it under 19 level, but at this level, we haven't done that (before). Even Super Eight was first time for us and then in semis. It's an unbelievable feeling.”
Sharing his pride in his team, Khan added, “Well, I don't know how to describe my feeling. It's a big achievement for us being in the semifinals and yeah, I think the cricket we have played in the whole tournament so far – I think we deserve to be in the semis. The way everyone took the responsibility of getting into the game and performing best for the team.”
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Despite setting a modest total of 115/5, Afghanistan bowlers managed to click at the right time, and secured an eight-run win in the dying stages of a start-stop contest.
Khan believes that they did lack 15-20 runs when setting the target, but that didn't change their fighting mindset.
“I think we were there like 15-20 runs short. We could have done better than that to score 130-135 but the bowling unit we have we felt like it's enough for us. We have to bowl in the right areas consistently and making sure we have the right belief and right mindset that we can defend. In the past few games here, the team defended 106 runs. So, I think the belief was there as long we just keep ourselves calm and make sure we do the right thing the right time.”
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