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Afghanistan storm into maiden World Cup semi-finals; Australia knocked out

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Rashid Khan and Gulbadin Naib soak in Afghanistan's historic win [Cricinfo]

Jonathan Trott first kicked a bag in the dressing room. He then signaled to Afghanistan to slow the game down when rain was around. Rashid Khan had his hands on his head at various moments in the chase. Mohammad Nabi had a constant smile on his face. Dwayne Bravo wasn’t able to watch it.

But the one moment that encapsulated the emotionally-charged night in Kingstown was Naveen ul Haq taking off after taking the final Bangladesh wicket. That sealed Afghanistan’s maiden spot in the semi-final of any men’s senior World Cup.

In a match that had a start-stop nature owing to multiple rain interventions, Afghanistan – led by four-fors from Naveen and Rashid – edged out Bangladesh by a mere eight runs, and in the process, also knocked Australia out of the T20 World Cup 2024.

Both teams, along with Australia, were in contention for one semi-final spot from Group 1 of Super Eight, and the rain only added to the drama. For the best part of the last hour, a cat-and-mouse game ensued. There were moments when Bangladesh edged Afghanistan out on the DLS par score, only for the latter to come back to snatch back the advantage by picking up wickets.

Litton Das with a best of 36 before Monday in the tournament, stayed through it all, but couldn’t take Bangladesh over the line. Rashid and Co. danced their hearts out after knocking two teams with a single blow and the celebrations are only likely to go on for longer.

Bangladesh had to chase their original target of 116 down in 12.1 overs to pip both Australia and Afghanistan to the semi-final. Their chase was delayed by half an hour, thanks to a 20-minute downpour. A shorter game, therefore, was disadvantageous to Bangladesh.

After the second rain break, though, Bangladesh sent out mixed signals. Litton attacked Naveen but Soumya Sarkar fell in a bid to do so against Rashid. Towhid Hridoy’s risks against Mohammad Nabi, which included a dropped catch, came off but he, too, holed out off Rashid. But with Litton hitting Rashid for successive fours – first over mid-off and then just past slip – Bangladesh looked on track to hunt the target down to qualify.

But soon, Mahmudullah’s indecisiveness and Rishad Hossain’s adventurousness meant they slipped to 80 for 7 after 11 overs. Which is when the rainy clouds returned to continuously hover around the stadium, and constantly brought the DLS par scores into picture for the rest of the night.

In the face of increasing pressure, Litton seemingly kept his calm. He has had a forgettable 2024 in T20Is, striking at under 100 and his place in the Bangladesh set-up under scanner. But he started off with intent and kept up their hopes of signing off from the T20 World Cup with a win. But it was not meant to be.

Fazalhaq Farooqi, Afghanistan’s weapon with the new ball, trapped Tanzid Hasan lbw with his third ball, making it his 16th wicket, which drew him equal with Wanindu Hasaranga for most wickets in a men’s T20 World Cup.

Naveen’s first over was expensive, with Litton hitting him for a four and a six. Then Najmul Hossain Shanto heaved one over midwicket in his second over. But with a deep midwicket in place, Naveen once again bowled a length ball angling into Shanto, who picked out the fielder there. Naveen then got the next ball to straighten just enough to catch Shakib Al Hasan’s leading edge for a return catch and Bangladesh were 23 for 3.

One of the methods that has worked for Afghanistan, and their openers, in this World Cup is a non-enterprising start. Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran stayed true to form, taking very few chances inside the powerplay as well as in the first ten overs. They finished the powerplay on 27 for 0 and at the ten-over mark were 58 for 0.

It was Gurbaz and Ibrahim’s fourth fifty partnership, the most by any pair in a T20 World Cup. In the first ten overs, there were only 15 attempts of attacking shots, that too on a surface that was slowing down and was going to see dew later on.

When Rishad was brought on in the ninth over, the wind was blowing diagonally from right to left, in the direction of his natural spin. He immediately beat Ibrahim’s outside edge, and in his second over used the bounce on offer to get the same batter’s leading edge caught at long-off.

Gurbaz then took the attack to Rishad in his third over. He first slapped one over cover point to end a phase of 38 legal balls without a four, and then used the sweep for another four through backward-square-leg region. However, Rishad had the last laugh when he had Gurbaz holing out to deep cover in his last over. A couple of balls later, he also had Gulbadin Naib miscue a slice towards cover point. Naib could have gotten away if not for Sarkar, who sprinted in from the deep and dived forward almost near the 30-metre circle. And just like that, Afghanistan had ceded early advantage to slip from 59 for 0 to 89 for 4.

Rashid walked in at 93 for 5 with just 14 balls left. He faced ten of those, attempted attacking shots on nine of those, and finished on 19 not out. He struck three sixes, two of those in the last over bowled by Tanzim Hasan Sakib. He used good use of the willow generally, except on one occasion when he flung it towards his partner, Karim Janat. It was the last over of the innings and Rashid wanted a second run to retain strike but Janat refused it. Still, he helped Afghanistan score 22 in the last 14 balls that helped them to a total they could fight with, just as the heavens in Kingstown opened up.

Afghanistan faced 66 dot balls in their innings, which was the third-most by a team with five or fewer wickets lost in men’s T20I where ball-by-ball records are available with ESPNcricinfo. But it did not come back to haunt Afghanistan, who kept a clean slate of successfully defending totals in St Vincent.

Brief scores:
Afghanistan 115 for 5 in 20 overs (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 43; Taskin Ahmed 1-12, Mustafizur Rahman 1-17,  Rishad Hossain 3-26) beat  Bangladesh 105 in 17.5 overs  (Litton Das 54*;  Rashid Khan  4-23, Naveen ul Haq  4-26, Fazalhaq Farooki 1-15, Gulbadin Naib 1-05) by eight runs via DLS method

[Cricinfo]



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Hamas releases three Israeli hostages in Gaza, after fears over ceasefire

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As with previous handovers, a stage was erected by Hamas for a highly-choreographed handover [BBC]

Hamas has released three Israeli hostages, after days of fears over the Gaza ceasefire.

The freed hostages are Israeli – Russian Alexander Troufanov, Israeli – Argentine Yair Horn and Israeli – American Sagui Dekel-Chen.

Israel is releasing 369 Palestinian prisoners in return, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office- some are now arriving in the West Bank.

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Grant Fisher smashes world indoor 5000m record in Boston

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Less than a week after he took apart the world indoor 3000m record in New York, USA’s Grant Fisher added another world indoor record* to his tally, this time over 5000m at the BU David Hemery Valentine International in Boston on Friday (14).

The double Olympic bronze medallist dropped Jimmy Gressier just after the half way point and continued to extend his lead throughout the second half. After passing 3000m in 7:39.16 – a comfortable 16 seconds outside the world indoor record of 7:22.91 he clocked last Saturday – Fisher continued to churn out sub-31-second laps.

After covering the final 400m in 59.36 seconds, Fisher charged through the line in 12:44.09, a five-second improvement on the previous world indoor record of 12:49.60 set by Kenenisa Bekele in 2004.

Gressier held on for second place in 12:54.92, a European indoor record and outright French record.

[*Subject to the usual ratification procedure]

[World Athletics]

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Ghosh, Ahuja script stunning comeback as RCB complete WPL’s biggest chase

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Richa Ghosh smacked four fours and a six off Ashleigh Gardner in a match-turning 16th over [BCCI]

A run-fest that produced the highest aggregate as well as the highest successful chase in the WPL ended with defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru chasing down 202 in a canter in Vadodara.

Richa Gosh who was dropped first ball, showed there was more to her game than just brute force. Her 23-ball half-century injected momentum into RCB’s chase after Ellyse Perry’s dismissal for 57 left them needing 93 off 46 balls. Ghosh’s unbeaten, 26-ball 64 included a stunning takedown of Gujarat Giants captain Ashleigh Gardner in a 23-run 16th over to turn the game on its head.

Ghosh was supported by the diminutive left-hander Kanika Ahunja who scored an unbeaten 13-ball 30. Their unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 93 off just 37 balls completed a sensational RCB turnaround, consigning Gardner’s scarcely believable 37-ball 79 not out from earlier in the evening to second best.

Renuka Singh struggled for accuracy in her first two overs, but her first attempt at bowling stump-to-stump rather than searching for devious inswing led to Laura Wolvaardt being bowled for 6 in the fifth over. D Hemalatha came in at N0. 3 for Giants rather than Harleen Deol, and they were two down when she sliced the offspinner Ahuja to point. Giants were 41 for 2 in the seventh.

Beth Mooney shifted gears in the 10th over after she successfully overturned an lbw appeal through DRS off legspinner Georgia Wareham, whome she hit for three back-to-back fours while bringing up a 37-ball half-century. Mooney then stepped out and lofted legspinner Prema Rawat inside-out to the extra-cover boundary, but fell in the same over when she picked out Smriti Mandhana at midwicket for 56.

That brought in Deandra Dottin and she took just four balls to announce herself. She first thumped Kim Garth over mid-off and then played a neat little glide past the keeper to the deep third boundary.

At the other end, Gardner continued from where she had left off at the Women’s Ashes earlier in the month by taking toll of Rawat’s inexperience and hitting her for three consecutive sixes. After hitting the first two over long-off and long-on, she pummelled the half-tracker that followed over deep backward square leg.

Gardner was able to sustain this momentum against Wareham in the following over when she hit her for back-to-back fours. The Dottin-Gardner partnership had surged to 63 off 26 balls when Perry dropped a set Dottin at long-on, but it wouldn’t cost RCB much as she fell four balls later.

Gardner ended the innings in a blaze, taking down the teenaged seamer VJ Joshita as Giants hit 49 off the last three overs. Garner’s innings was studded with three fours and eight sixes.

Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Women 202 for 4 in 18.3 overs  (Richa Ghosh 64*, Ellyse Perry 57,  Raghvi Bist 25, Kanika Ahuja 30*;  Ashleigh Gardner 2-33) beat Gujarat Giants Women  201 for 5 in 20 overs (Ashleigh Gardner 79, Mooney 56, Deandra Dottin 25; Renuka Singh  2-25) by six wickets

[Cricinfo]

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