After 52 riveting clashes, the 2024 edition of the T20 World Cup has four semifinalists. Defending champions England were the first to qualify for the match after a thumping win over the USA before they were joined by South Africa from Group 1, who beat West Indies in a low-scoring thriller on Sunday in their final Super Eight game to secure the top spot in the points table. Later on Monday, India kept their unbeaten record in the World Cup intact with a dominating win against Australia in St Lucia by 24 runs. Afghanistan were the final team to qualify for the semifinals, having survived a rain-affected nail-biter in Kingstown on Tuesday against Bangladesh.
The equation for the semifinal qualification was fairly simple for Afghanistan – they had to win to deny Australia the final spot. But they found themselves in a bit of trouble after Najmul Hossain Shanto’s men put on a clinical show with the ball to restrict Afghanistan to just 115 for five. Bangladesh, who lost both their opening games in Super Eight, had to chase the target down in just 12.1 overs to make it through to the semis. But squandered their chances as well, with the batters succumbing to the Afghanistan attack, who picked wickets at regular intervals amid the three rain delays. Rashid Khan, the star of the match, played a pivotal role in the win, picking four quick wickets after the second rain break to send Bangladesh seven down in the revised chase of 114 in 19 overs.
For Bangladesh, they had their hopes pinned on Litton Das, who carved out a fighting knock of unbeaten 54, but lacked support as Afghanistan won by just 8 runs on DLS (Duckworth-Lewis-Stern) method, a rain-affected scoring system, to book the semifinal spot for the first time ever in an ICC event.
T20 World Cup semifinal full schedule and venue:
According to the ICC tournament format, the winner of the respective Super Eight groups will face the runner-up from the other group in the semifinal. Hence, the semifinal line-up reads…
Semifinal 1: Afghanistan vs South Africa, June 27, 6:00 AM IST at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, San Fernando
Semifinal 2: India vs England, June 27, 8:00 PM IST at the Providence Stadium, Guyana
This will be the seventh time India will be up against England in a T20 World Cup match, and they lead the head-to-head rivalry 4-2. However, India lost in the previous semifinal meeting against Jos Buttler’s men in the 2022 edition of the ICC event. Afghanistan, on the other hand, lost both their T20 World Cup meetings – 2010 and 2016 – against the Proteas, which also remains their only two T20I encounters.
