Afghanistan underachievers ride wave to T20 semi-final

Rashid Khan was hoisted on the shoulders of his celebrating Afghan teammates and then joined in a circle with the squad and took his turn to dance on the field, all beamed live for the TV audience.

The joy of reaching the Twenty20 World Cup semi-finals for the first time - at the expense of powerhouse Australia - lasted long after the dramatic win over Bangladesh in St. Vincent.

On Wednesday, the underdog Afghan team will go back to work against South Africa, which has been at or near the top of limited-overs cricket for decades but never won a title at a global tournament.

The T20 World Cup semi-final in Trinidad will be a contest between the overachievers and underachievers of international cricket - the second semi on Thursday features heavyweights India and defending champion England.

Rashid is one of the leading bowlers in the T20 format, a regular star in the franchise leagues around the world, and this is the pinnacle for him in national colors.

"It's a massive achievement for us as a team and as a nation to be in the semis," he said.

"The cricket we have played in the whole tournament so far, I think we deserve to be there."

Rashid then delivered a message in Pashto, an eastern Iranian language, for the team's massive following back in Kabul.

Afghans in their thousands took to the streets of Kabul to celebrate the national team's success in the Caribbean.

After reaching the second round at the previous three T20 World Cups, Afghanistan knocked out New Zealand in the group stage and then beat Australia for the first time last weekend to advance to the final four.

Losses to co-host West Indies in the group stage and to India in the second phase were reality checks that could serve the team well in the knockouts.

"It's a case of us just looking at what we need to improve on, which is a few little areas ... nothing too major," Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott said.

"It's just a sort of mindset shift. But I also think, we go into the semi-final with no scarring or no history with regards to semi-finals."

Trott was born in Cape Town and represented South Africa at junior levels before moving and playing Test cricket for England.

He's well aware of South Africa's poor history at the pointy end of cricket's world tournaments and made a point of saying it's "uncharted territory" for Afghanistan.

"There's no preconceived ideas, or history of failure or success in semi-finals," he said.

"For us it's a new challenge and I think that makes us dangerous in the semi-finals as a side with nothing to lose and obviously a lot of pressure on the opposition."

Rob Walter, who has been head coach of South Africa's limited-overs teams since the start of 2023, is well aware of the magnitude of the match.

"It's never just another game," Walter said.

"That sort of rhetoric around semi-finals is always untrue or people trying to downplay the occasion," he said.

"It is a semi-final of a World Cup and we appreciate that and we're looking forward to it."

South Africa is unbeaten at the tournament but had to endure a tighter-than-expected one-run win over lowly-ranked Nepal, tough contests against Netherlands, Bangladesh and England and only beat West Indies with five balls to spare in the Super Eight stage.