Fans flooded the streets of Afghanistan to celebrate their team’s passage to the T20 World Cup 2024 semi-finals.
Afghanistan advanced to the T20 World Cup semifinals for the first time ever, and mayhem broke out. After the team defeated Bangladesh in their last Super 8 match of the competition, thousands of supporters flocked to the streets to celebrate the squad’s historic moment on the international cricket scene. Afghanistan didn’t have much support to get thus far in the competition, but victories over formidable opponents Australia and New Zealand in the main event cleared the path for them to win. Afghan supporters swarmed to the streets after word spread that they had officially qualified, and images and videos of the event went viral.
Players from Afghanistan were seen celebrating the historic occasion even inside the team bus.
For us as a squad, getting to the semifinals is almost like a fantasy. Everything revolves around how the tournament was launched. After our victory over New Zealand, the belief grew. I cannot express the emotion using words. A decent total on this wicket, in our opinion, was 130–135. We needed 15 to 20 runs more. The key was to have the right mindset. As we prepared to chase it in 12 overs, we knew they would come hard at us,” Rashid remarked.
Rashid Khan, the captain of Afghanistan, said that the team felt as though they had fulfilled a “dream” for a lifetime.
“Being in the semifinals is almost like a dream come true for our team. It all comes down to how we launched the competition. The victory over New Zealand cemented the belief. There are no words to express how I feel. On this wicket, we felt 130–135 was a respectable score. We were behind by fifteen to twenty runs. It was all a matter of perspective. In order to chase it in 12 overs, we knew they would come after us hard,” Rashid remarked.
