What Went Wrong for Afghanistan in Semi-Final?
What Went Wrong for Afghanistan in Semi-Final: A team who had given their absolute best and tried to reach as far as possible in this competition has had a heartbreaking end to their wonderful campaign as South Africa beat Afghanistan by 9 wickets. The amazing run of Afghanistan in this T20 World Cup comes to an end with a humiliation by the proteas. Going into the game Afghanistan had a fair chance of winning this match but certain mistakes cost them dearly in this Semifinal clash against South Africa.
In a game where every mistake could prove costly the Afghanistan side was completely dominated by the South African side as there was nothing left to fight for after the end of the first innings. After winning the toss Afghansiatn rightfully elected to bat first but the sheer pace attack of South Africa left Afghanistan’s batters gamboled.
Unitll this semifinal game the Afghanistan side was performing really well, where they even defeated big teams like Australia, Bangladesh, and New Zealand in this tournament. Still, when they faced South Africa the story was completely different. Even in their group stage losses, they fought until the end but here in the semifinal that was completely missing.
Let us look at What Went Wrong for Afghanistan in Semi-Final?
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What Happened to Afghanistan in Semifinal against South Africa:
Openers Failure;
In this tournament so far the openers have been playing in good form, where either one of them would used to get a good amount of runs early on in the innings but in this semifinal clash, this was clearly missing. Both openers Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran scored 0 and 2 respectively.
Middle Order & Finishers Failure;
Even though the openers failed to score runs the middle order was expected to stabilize the innings, however after the fall of the first two wickets, the wickets did not stop falling and South African pacers along with spinner Shamsi gave no chance for Afghanistan middle order and finishers.
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Failed as Batting Unit;
The overall batting failure was evident as they managed to score just 56 runs for the loss of 10 wickets in 11.5 overs. In what seemed like a batting-friendly surface the pitch turned out to be the opposite and the Afghanistan batters were unable to adapt to the situation and thus were crumbled down to just 56.
Failed to make an Impact with the Ball;
Even though the score was pretty low the Afghanistan bowlers could have tried their best to stop South Africa from chasing but however only Fazalhaq Farooqi picked up a wicket early in the third over. With just 57 to score the South African skipper Aiden Markram and Reeza Hendricks chased it down with ease and gave no option for Afghanistan bowlers to come back into this game.
The Fighting Spirit was Missing;
In the previous game, we all saw Afghanistan fighting until the very end and they gave their absolute best but here in the semifinal clash it was totally missing. After the fall of few wickets, the Afghanistan side looked completely scared and shattered. That’s why the rest of the batting unit collapsed, whereas in bowling they had nothing to believe in.
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Conclusion: Sad Ending but Historical Campaign to Remember
Afghanistan’s journey in the T20 World Cup ended sadly with a heavy defeat to South Africa in the semifinals. Despite their earlier accomplishments against strong teams, they faltered at a crucial moment. Batting first, they collapsed under South Africa’s strong bowling attack, managing only 56 runs.
This early setback shattered their confidence, and they couldn’t recover in bowling either, allowing South Africa to chase the target easily. The absence of their usual fighting spirit was evident, marking a disappointing end to what had been a remarkable campaign. Afghanistan’s performance in this tournament will be remembered forever, but this defeat will sting the Afghans for a while.
