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Afghanistan's fairytale run at the T20 World Cup 2024 came to an unfortunate end earlier today when they were thwarted by South Africa from making it to their first-ever final in an ICC event. The Afghans crashed out of the tournament after losing to the Proteas by nine wickets in Trinidad.
However, the defeat cannot sum up Afghanistan's excellent campaign in the Caribbeans. They beat some heavyweight teams like New Zealand and Australia on their way to the top four.
While there are certain areas that need to be worked on, Afghanistan players can enjoy for now given what they have achieved in this year's T20 World Cup. It has been a collective effort from both batters and bowlers, with skipper Rashid Khan leading the team from the front.
On that note, let's take a look at the five best Afghanistan players in the T20 World Cup 2024.
#1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz
The wicketkeeper-batter has been Afghanistan's best performer in this edition of the T20 World Cup. He is currently the highest run-scorer in the tournament with 281 runs from eight games at an average of 35.12 and a strike rate of 124.33, including three half-centuries. There have not been many tournaments where we have seen Afghanistan batters dominating the leaderboard.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz formed an important partnership with Ibrahim Zadran at the top of the order. When these two batters have shared a strong opening partnership, Afghanistan have gone on to win those matches in the ICC event. These two have carried the Afghan batting, where the middle order has struggled badly throughout the tournament.
In the two big games against New Zealand and Australia, Gurbaz scored 80 and 60 runs, respectively, to steer his side to victories.
#2 Rashid Khan
The Afghanistan skipper is one of the best leg-spinners in the business when it comes to the shortest format of the game. He has quite a few tricks up his sleeves and his ability to vary the pace makes him stand out from the rest.
Rashid Khan lived up to the billing in this edition of the T20 World Cup and led the team from the front. The ace spinner returned with 14 wickets from eight matches, which is the third-highest in the tournament so far.
Rashid has controlled the middle overs, bowling at an economy of 6.17, and didn't allow opposition teams to spread their dominance. He has been the linchpin of the team and will go down as one of the best the country has ever produced.
#3 Fazalhaq Farooqi
Not every time you see an Afghanistan batter and a bowler dominate the run-scoring and highest wicket-taker charts in a T20 World Cup. While Gurbaz is the highest run-scorer in the competition, Fazalhaq Farooqi dominated the wicket-takers' leaderboard.
The left-arm pacer signed off with 17 wickets in eight games at an average of only 9.41. His economy rate of 6.31 is extraordinary, considering he mainly bowled in the powerplay and at the death.
Farooqi picked up a five-wicket haul against Uganda and followed it up with four wickets against the Blackcaps. He also scalped three wickets against the mighty Indians.
#4 Gulbadin Naib
While he will mostly be remembered for faking a hamstring injury during their final Super 8 game against Bangladesh, Gulbadin Naib was one of Afghanistan's best performers in the tournament. An underrated all-rounder Gulbadin stood up to the task every time his side asked him, be it with the bat or the ball.
The former Afghan skipper bowled only nine overs throughout the T20 World Cup but picked up seven wickets at an average of 6.71. His economy of 5.22 is also among the best in the tournament. He picked up a crucial wicket against Bangladesh that paved his side's path to their first-ever T20 World Cup final.
Gulbadin also scored 90 runs to show for his efforts with the bat, including an unbeaten 49 against PNG. He also grabbed five important catches in this tournament.
#5 Naveen-ul-Haq
Rubbing shoulders with the biggest names in the world of cricket in the IPL has certainly done Naveen-ul-Haq a world of good. And it was on show in this year's World Cup.
Naveen is not the kind of a pacer that every youngster dreams to be when they grow up. Yet, he has some special talents that make him a rare breed, at least in T20s. He has a rare ability to bowl what is needed at the moment and likes to keep things very simple.
And with that, he was Afghanistan's third-highest wicket-taker after Farooqi and Rashid. The right-arm pacer scalped 13 wickets in eight matches at an economy rate of six.
With three Afghan bowlers dominating the leaderboard for the highest wicket-takers, it shows how far they have come as an international side. And, they will only get better from here.
