‘We proved him right’ - Rashid Khan highlights Brian Lara's accurate prediction of Afghanistan as semi-finalists in T20 World Cup

Afghanistan scripted history in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024, defeating Bangladesh in the Super Eight stage of the tournament, the side managed to reach the semi-finals of the marquee event. Eliminating the mighty Australia in the process. 

It was an emotional night for the entire squad. Afghanistan will take on South Africa in the semi-final of the tournament, and before the start of the tournament, as many experts came forward to name the top four in the T20 World Cup, only former West Indies batter Brian Lara picked Afghanistan as one of the contenders.  

Ambati Rayudu picked India, England, New Zealand, and South Africa, whereas Sunil Gavaskar picked India, England, Australia, and the West Indies as his four semi-finalists. Only the legendary former cricketer Brian Lara picked India, England, the West Indies, and Afghanistan as his top four. 

Seeing his belief in the side, Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan came forward to reveal that the side met Brian Lara at the welcome party, and seeing that he was the only person to believe in the side, they did it in his honour.

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“It's unbelievable. The only guy who put us in the semi-finals was Brian Lara, and we proved him right. When we met him at a welcome party, I told him we won't let you down,” Rashid Khan said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

It's a dream for us to be in the semi-finals: Rashid Khan

Defeating Bangladesh by eight runs through the DLS method, Afghanistan made it to the World Cup semis, and after the game, Rashid revealed how ecstatic the entire side is and how it is a dream come true for them.

"It's a dream for us to be in the semi-finals. The way we started the tournament, the belief came when we beat New Zealand. We thought 130-135 was a good score but we fell 15 runs short. We knew they would come hard at us and we knew that is what we could take advantage of. We didn't need to do anything extra, just be clear in our plans. We wanted to make people back home happy, that was the discussion we had and everyone did a wonderful job,” Rashid added.