Litton Das solid innings of 54 went in vain as Afghanistan reached their maiden semi final of the T20 World Cup by beating Bangladesh by 8 runs in the rain affected game on Tuesday.
After choosing to bat first, Afghanistan openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran got their side off to a steady start. The pair added 59 runs for the opening stand before the latter perished to Rishad Hossain for 18.
Mustafizur Rahman then dismissed Azmatullah Omarzai for 10. The rest of the Afghanistan batters failed to get any momentum as they finished at 115/5 in their 20 overs.
Chasing 116, Fazalhaq Farooqi trapped Tanzid Hasan for a duck.
Das struck an unbeaten 54 , but wickets fell regularly as Bangladesh were reduced to 80/7. Naveen-ul-Haq then took wickets of Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman off consecutive deliveries in the penultimate over, to guide Afghan to a thrilling 8 run win. With this victory, Australia have been eliminated from the World Cup.
Afghanistan will now square off against South Africa in the first semi-final in Trinidad on Thursday, while India will be facing England in the second one.
