Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan reflects on the loss to India

After his side’s 47-run loss to India in the Super Eights match of the 2024 T20 World Cup, Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan said the players believed they could chase 170-180 runs in Barbados.

Bridgetown (Barbados): After his side’s 47-run loss to India in the Super Eights match of the 2024 T20 World Cup, Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan said the players believed they could chase 170-180 runs in Barbados.

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Rashid led the Afghan bowling attack in the first innings after collecting three wickets for 26 runs in his four-over spell. In the second inning, the Afghan captain could score only two runs from six balls.

After the match, Rashid said they should have thought they could chase such a target. The 25-year-old accepted that he was struggling in the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL).

“That was a surface where we thought we could chase 170-180. Just go there and play against bigger teams, we should think we’ll have to chase scores like that. The body feels good. I was struggling a bit in the IPL. I am now playing consistently in the areas where we have played. We sometimes forget our own skills. If the conditions are there, we will try to use them,” said Rashid.

To sum up the match, India won the toss and elected to bat first. India were struggling at 90/4 at one point, prompting a match-saving partnership of 60 runs between Suryakumar Yadav (53 in 28 balls, with five fours and three sixes) and Hardik Pandya (32 in 24 balls, with three fours and two sixes ) who took India to 181/8 in their 20 overs.

Rashid Khan (26/3) and Fazalhaq Farooqi (3/33) were the best bowlers for Afghanistan.

In the chase of 182 runs, Afghanistan never looked threatening and lost wickets regularly. Azmatullah Omarzai (26 in 20 balls, with two fours and a six) was the only one to cross the 20-run mark, while other batters failed miserably against Bumrah (3/7), Arshdeep (3/36) and Kuldeep Yadav (2 /32). Afghanistan were bowled out for 134 runs in their 20 overs.

Suryakumar Yadav received the ‘Player of the Match’ award.