In the T20 World Cup semifinal on Thursday at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba, Trinidad, Afghanistan was outplayed by a clinical South Africa. Although Rashid Khan was unhappy, he pledged that he and his team would bounce back stronger.

We had a really difficult time as a team. Although we may have performed better, the circumstances prevented us from achieving our goals.

“You have to be prepared for every situation because that’s how Twenty20 cricket works,” Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan said at the post-match press conference.

When the Afghans decided to bat, things didn’t go as planned since the South African pacers took full advantage of the significant seam movement available. Afghanistan had lost half of their side in the powerplay and was in total chaos. Spinner Tabraiz Shamsi (3/6) took three wickets, but the speed trio of Marco Jansen (3/16), Kagiso Rabada (2/14) and Anrich Nortje (2/7) split seven wickets between them.

Azmatullah Omarzai led Afghanistan in scoring with 10 of his 12 shots.

Rashid said that they had a terrific World Cup and are pleased with their performance, which included defeating some formidable teams.

They bowled pretty well, in my opinion. I believe that the seamers’ excellent bowling contributed to our good results in this competition. You need strong beginnings. Though I believe Mujeeb’s injury was unfortunate, our seamers—including Nabi—bowled well with the new ball. As spinners, it made our jobs simpler. This event has been fun for us, Rashid said.

After bowling Afghanistan out for a pitiful 56 runs, the Patriots placed themselves in a strong position to go to the final.

Then, with 67 balls remaining, they dashed to the objective.

The Afghan captain went on to say that while they still have a lot of work ahead of them and aim to play better the next time, they will still be believing when they compete in an ICC tournament.

“We don’t mind competing in the semifinals and falling short against a quality team like Africa. For us, this is only the beginning; we are capable of defeating any opposition. We just must maintain our procedures.

We have learned so much from this,” he said.

“The belief is what we take away from the competition. We are aware of our abilities; all we need to do is manage challenging circumstances and high pressure. To extend the innings, some effort has to be put in, particularly in the middle order. As I previously said, our squad is always growing, and although we have seen success so far, we want to return and put in much more effort, particularly in the batting area,” Rashid continued.

We have learned so much from this,” he said.

“The belief is what we take away from the competition. We are aware of our abilities; all we need to do is manage challenging circumstances and high pressure. To extend the innings, some effort has to be put in, particularly in the middle order. As I previously said, our squad is always growing, and although we have seen success so far, we want to return and put in much more effort, particularly in the batting area,” Rashid continued.