‘We Thought We Could Chase 170-180’: Afghanistan Skipper Rashid Khan Reflects on Loss to India

Bridgetown [Barbados]: After his side’s 47-run loss against India in the Super Eights match of the T20 World Cup 2024, Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan said that the players thought they could chase down 170-180 runs in Barbados.
Rashid led the Afghan bowling attack in the first inning after he picked up three wickets for 26 runs in his four-over spell. In the second inning, the Afghan skipper could only score two runs from six balls.

Speaking after the match, Rashid said that they should have been thinking that they could chase down such a target. The 25-year-old accepted that he struggled in the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL).

“That was a surface we thought we could chase 170-180. You just go there and play against bigger teams, we should be thinking we will have to chase such scores. Body is feeling well. I struggled a little in the IPL. I am hitting the areas consistently now. We have enjoyed everywhere we have played. We forget our own skills sometimes. If the conditions are there, we will look to use it,” Rashid said.

Recapping the match, India won the toss and elected to bat first. India was struggling at 90/4 at one point, then came a match-saving 60-run partnership between Suryakumar Yadav (53 in 28 balls, with five fours and three sixes) and Hardik Pandya (32 in 24 balls, with three fours and two sixes) that took India to 181/8 in their 20 overs.

Rashid Khan (3/26) and Fazalhaq Farooqi (3/33) were the top bowlers for Afghanistan.

In the run-chase of 182 runs, Afghanistan never looked threatening and lost wickets regularly. Azmatullah Omarzai (26 in 20 balls, with two fours and a six) was the only one to cross the 20-run mark as other batters failed miserably against Bumrah (3/7), Arshdeep (3/36) and Kuldeep Yadav (2/32). Afghanistan was bundled out for 134 runs in their 20 overs.
Suryakumar Yadav was given the ‘Player of the Match’ award.