Afghanistan has arrived on the world stage in cricket!
Thirty Nine overs were bowled. Afghanistan required 68 runs from 66 balls with eight wickets in hand. The third wicket partnership was just building up after their openers had set up an unbelievably great platform during a high run case against a team which has a reputation of winning matches purely due to their bowling.
The match is firmly in Afghanistan’s control and Pakistan’s captain Babar Azam brings out his trump card in Shaheen Shah Afridi. Shaheen runs in from around the wicket, the ball pitches on the leg stump to the right hander, and hits the batsman’s pads. They appeal vociferously and umpire quickly turns down the appeal. Mohammed Rizwan, Afridi and Babar hold a quick conference where Rizwan somehow convinces the captain to take a review. Almost hilariously, the ball hit the batsman at least a stump outside the leg stump, and was missing at least two stumps if not more. Babar throws an angry stare towards Rizwan — his partner in crime in many memorable partnerships. The commentators couldn’t stop discussing this review for the next two overs. Pakistan’s desperation to get a breakthrough was palpable.
A few overs later, the umpire gives a wide down the leg side even when there was a clear noise as the ball passed the batsman. Babar refused to review despite the noise. The ball did hit the thigh pad of the batsman; they could have avoided an extra run and one ball less had they taken the review. But such were the scars of the previous review that neither Rizwan appealed nor Babar. Haris Rauf, the bowler, smirked in vain.
A target of 284 is a tall order for any associate nation. They have rarely chased so many runs chasing against a test playing nation. Afghanistan’s batting has been good in this world cup — they scored 274 against India (with such a great bowling attack) and 284 against defending champions England (against whom they won), but both were done while batting first.
Chasing 280-plus runs is a completely different ball game. They started well scoring 130 runs at more than run-a-ball thanks mainly to Garbaz’s (now fondly called GarBazBall) blistering 60. However the middle overs came in, pressure started to build and slowly the gap between runs and balls increased. The beauty of ODIs, even if it is a dying format, is that a good start isn’t sufficient to win. The intensity has to be sustained for 3+ hours. Ask Pakistan, who were well on course chasing 369 against Australia for about 35 overs but couldn’t sustain it beyond that.
Afghanistan also slowed down. They required only 108 runs in the last 120 balls. That changed to 94 off 96 balls. A wicket fell. Then came a maiden over. Suddenly the run rate creeped up over 6 with 79 required off 78 balls. It soared to almost 7 runs an over with 54 runs off the last 48 balls.
These numbers are not frightening for a chasing side. This is a regulation chase for any test playing nation against another test playing nation no matter how great the bowling side is. But think from the perspective of an associate nation. A nation which is amidst a political turmoil, with a recent earthquake and which had lost seven times out of seven to Pakistan before today.
A required rate of over 6 is not easy. One always expects a release shot, a rash shot, an ill-timed mistake, a brain-fade that can trigger a downfall. But not today. These newbies knew how to chase. Chasing such a target is simply doing the basics right. They took singles, they ran hard between the wickets. And they converted ones into twos. Their running triggered numerous mistakes from Pakistan’s fielders. Commentators hilariously talked about the fielders diving over the ball than grabbing it.
The batsmen played along the ground and rarely hit a ball in the air. They were in no rush to hit boundaries. Dot balls were mostly compensated through twos than through fours. This was a close and tense matchup throughout the time it was played; in the end it seemed like Afghan’s simply walked in the park during the chase with eight wickets in hand and a full over to spare.
I was intrigued with this match up given that it was in Chennai — a heaven for spinners, Afghanistan’s strength. Afghans played with four spinners — all of them different; a right arm wrist spinner, two finger spinners and another left arm wrist spinner. But to watch this associate nation play with such calmness, with such clarity of thought and with such maturity was something else.
This is easily among the finest chases I have seen in World Cup, specially from an associate nation. Yes, Ireland beat England in 2011 but that was a freak show by a single player who ran hot on the day. But today was no freak show. It was pure strategy at play, with great calculation on how to approach the chase — planned and executed to perfection. It was a chase which even Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virat Kohli would have been proud of!
This World Cup is infamous for empty stands and low viewership leading to questions around the sustainability of the ODI format. Today more than 20 million (2 crore) people watched the game (which did not even feature India!) live on Hotstar. Afghanistan has arrived on the world stage in cricket!
