‘Next Time When We Participate, We Will Have The Belief To Beat Any Team’: Rashid Khan After Afghanistan’s Semifinal Debacle

AFG vs SA, 2024 T20 World Cup: Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan skipper admitted that his team could have played better in their 2024 T20 World Cup semifinal in Trinidad on Thursday. Afghanistan was knocked out of the ongoing tournament after losing to South Africa by nine wickets in a one-sided affair. While batting first, they were skittled out for just 56 runs in 11.5 overs. South Africa chased down the target quite comfortably in 8.5 overs and qualified for their first-ever ICC final.  
 
Except for Azmatullah Omarzai, no other Afghan batter could score in double digits. Openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran, who both scored runs throughout the tournament, failed to fire with the bat. Rashid admitted that the conditions made it difficult for them to score runs.  
 
“I think it was a tough night for us as a team, and we could've done better than us. But conditions didn't let us do that, but you should be mentally ready for any situation. I thought we didn't bat well,” Rashid told reporters in the post-match press conference.  

Also Read: South Africa ends Afghanistan's dream run by qualifying for their first semifinal 
 
He also revealed that they missed Mujeeb-Ur-Rehman but also heaped praises on players like Mohammed Nabi and Fazhalhaq Farooqi.  
 
“We were struggling when Mujeeb got injured, but Nabi, Fazal... that made our job as a spinning unit easier. The consistency in bowling was something pleasing for me. We came here before the tournament and if you told us we would be playing the semi-final against South Africa, we would accept that,” he added.  
 
Lot of hard work to be done 
 
After suffering a humiliating loss, Rashid further admitted that they can now defeat all the best teams in the world. He also requested his team to not lose hope and should rather work on improving their game.  
 
“Winning big games in this competition...and yes, we can beat any side. Next time when we participate in a tournament like this, we will have the belief. It's about how you manage yourself in those pressure situations against tough teams. “There is a lot of hard work to be done, especially in the middle order. We need to be aggressive and have someone to take the innings deep. We have achieved some good results but when we come back to the tournament, we need to do better, especially in the batting department,” he further said.  
 
The Rashid Khan-led had beaten New Zealand in their group stage match and then qualified for the Super 8. They then defeated Australia and Bangladesh to qualify for the semis. But in the semifinal against South Africa, they fizzled out as they couldn’t put up any fight.