Afghanistan better placed than Bangladesh in dash for last semi-final spot (2024)

Afghanistan vs Bangladesh
June 24, Kingstown, 8:30pm local

Big picture - race to the semi-finals

It's the last Super Eight game of the T20 World Cup 2024 and it's open season as far as the fourth semi-final spot is concerned, with Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who will be out in the middle, and Australia, who can at best wait and watch, all in the fray.

Here's what will do it for each of them:

But facing Afghanistan are a down-on-their-luck Bangladesh side, after two meek defeats against India and Australia.

Openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran complement each other, and they added their third century stand of the competition against Australia. That Afghanistan did not rely solely on their spinners in their historic win was also pleasing for them. Gulbadin Naib, who has bowled in only three out of 11 T20I matches this year, stunned Australia with a four-for, with Naveen-ul-Haq chipping in with three. This sort of performance frees up Rashid Khan from always having to deliver the knockout punches while also keeping things tight.

Bangladesh's batting has also struggled significantly at this T20 World Cup. The top order has the lowest collective average among the Super Eight teams. Their middle-order is also showing signs of wear and tear, which has led the team management to tinker with the fast-bowling line-up to bring in the extra batter.

Bangladesh LLWWL (last five completed T20Is, most recent first)
Afghanistan WLLWW

In the spotlight - Gulbadin Naib and Shakib Al Hasan

Gulbadin Naib was the eighth bowler against Australia, but he ended up taking his maiden four-wicket haul in T20Is in that game. He has been around for 12 years now and only recently made his IPL debut for Delhi Capitals. Needless to say, he is high on confidence.

By his standards, this year's T20 World Cup has mostly been a forgettable one for Shakib Al Hasan. He has scored one half-century, while it took him four matches to get his first wicket. Shakib became the first bowler in the tournament's history to reach 50 wickets, but has only taken three at an average of 37 in this edition. He hasn't batted high enough and Shakib's bowling too hasn't been properly utilised. Could this be Shakib's swansong in the T20 World Cup?

Team news - Bangladesh might bring Taskin or Shoriful back

Bangladesh could go back to Taskin Ahmed or Shoriful Islam to replace Jaker Ali. Afghanistan are likely to go in unchanged at the same venue where they beat Australia.

Bangladesh (probable): 1 Tanzid Hasan, 2 Litton Das (wk), 3 Najmul Hosain Shanto (capt), 4 Towhid Hridoy, 5 Shakib Al Hasan, 6 Mahmudullah, 7 Jaker Ali/Taskin Ahmed/Shoriful Islam, 8 Rishad Hossain, 9 Mahedi Hasan, 10 Tanzim Hasan, 11 Mustafizur Rahman

Afghanistan (probable): 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 2 Ibrahim Zadran, 3 Azmatullah Omarzai, 4 Karim Janat, 5 Rashid Khan (capt), 6 Mohammad Nabi, 7 Gulbadin Naib, 8 Nangeyalia Kharote, 9 Noor Ahmad, 10 Naveen-ul-Haq, 11 Fazalhaq Farooqi

Teams batting first have won every game in Arnos Vale, including Bangladesh defending 106 against Nepal. Afghanistan will also have a fair measure of the pitches after their 21-run win against Australia. Weather, however, may not be great as there's some rain forecast.

Stats that matter

Quotes

"It's a nice feeling to have that fact that we're playing the last game as well. You will know exactly what the scenario is and then what's needed to win. That's always a nice feeling. But I think with cricket, so many things are thrown in and so many results can go against you or for you. So, we've just got to focus on our match against Bangladesh and when all the other matches are played. We'll know what we need to do and the decisions we need to make."
Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott

"One thing you've got to acknowledge is you can't fight genetics. You have to have a genetic predisposition to power initially. But power is something that takes a lot of time. If you're not predisposed to being strong... West Indians don't have to find power. They're born with power. We're not born with power, so we have to do it a different way. We're looking at the strength and conditioning element, we're looking at different things of how we can do it a Bangladeshi way."
Bangladesh assistant coach Nic Pothas