[Watch] Kagiso Rabada strikes twice in his first over to wreak havoc on Afghanistan batting unit in 2024 T20 World Cup semi-final
South Africa speedster Kagiso Rabada was on point to inflict more damage on the already reeling Afghanistan in the first semi-final of the 2024 T20 World Cup. The right-arm seamer struck twice in his first over at the Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad on Wednesday, June 26.
Marco Jansen had set things up beautifully for his seam bowling partner with his twin strikes that broke the dreaded Gurbaz-Zadran pairing at the top and reduced them to 16-2. To make matters worse for Afghanistan, they did not get any respite from the early blows as Kagiso Rabada was introduced into the attack in the fourth over.
The pacer went through Ibrahim Zadran's defense off his first delivery to get him bowled. He struck once again, courtesy of a brilliant delivery that left veteran Mohammad Nabi stunned. The ball moved a hint after pitching on a good length, leaving Nabi with his bat out, hoping for the best. However, the ball evaded the bat to hit the off stump.
Here's a video of the dismissal:
Afghanistan, who heroically made it to the semi-finals with wins over Australia and Bangladesh in the Super 8 stage, were left reeling at 20-4 after Rabada's first over. Their middle order has not had much to do over the course of the tournament on the back of Gurbaz and Zadran's red-hot form. The opening pair has been to bat deep, resulting in the middle order to only apply the finishing touches.
However, with the entire top order back in the hut, Afghanistan have to figure out a way to get the runs from somewhere to post a competitive total in the knockout fixture.
Afghanistan endure a nightmarish innings after South African bowlers' exploits
Afghanistan could not recover from Jansen's early strikes as Rabada piled on more trouble. The former struck once again in his third over on the trot as Afghanistan lost their fifth wicket inside the powerplay.
Speedster Anrich Nortje also entered the fray with a wicket straightaway after being introduced into the attack in the seventh over. The Rashid Khan-led side were bowled out for 56 runs in 11.5 overs, courtesy of Marco Jansen and Tabraiz Shamsi who finished with three wickets each.