NEW DELHI: The weekenaf10152023228787gone by has been tough for Afghanistan. The country has been ravaged by a massive earthquake. More than 1,000 people were killed. The ongoing ODI World Cup also didn’t bring much joy after losses to Bangladesh and India. Sunday, however, was different.
The smiles were back on the faces of Afghan cricketers, courtesy their English counterparts. A 69-run win over the reigning champions at the Arun Jaitley Stadium at the biggest stage of all – the World Cup — is indeed epic, a win that’ll bring some solace back home as Afghanistan is a cricket-crazy country.
The Afghans defended the total of 284-5 like their life depended on it. The pitch, like any other Delhi wicket, was gooD for batting and at lunch break the question in everyone’s mind was: How many overs will England take to chase the target down?
Everyone, however, was in for a shock. Afghanistan bowlers – both pacers as well as spinners – stuck to their lines and rarely gave any freebies to English batters. But the stars of the show were the spin twins – Rashid Khan (3-37) and Mujeeb Ur Rahman (3-51).
Mujeeb got the crucial wickets of Joe Root and Harry Brook (66 off 61b; 7x4, 1x6) whereas Rashid cleaned up the tail. The English batting lineup, barring Brook and to some extent Dawid Malan (32 off 39b; 4x4), had their feet stuck in cement, brains in a state of self-inflicted fear, and hands folded behind their backs.
England folded up for 215 in 40.3 overs, handing Afghanistan a historic victory.
Earlier, during Afghanistan’s batting display, opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz dazzled with his strokeplay. Gurbaz has the power game as well as finesse, back-foot shots as well as front-foot ones, and he plays pace and spin with equal authority.
Already at 21, he is one of world cricket’s most sought-after T20 players. The speed of Mark Wood, the seam of Chris Woakes, the guile of Adil Rashid, the swing of Sam Curran and the variations of Reece Topley – all were treated with disdain as Gurbaz (80 off 57b; 8x4, 4x6) thundered on a warm Delhi afternoon with temperatures hovering around the 35-degree mark.
Afghan openers, Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran (28 off 48b; 3x4), made full use of the batting-friendly conditions and added 114 for the first wicket. They batted in a boisterous, carefree manner, before Zadran chipped one straight to Joe Root at short mid-wicket off Rashid.
A collapse ensued. Onedown Rahmat Shah was stumped by Buttler off Rashid’s bowling, and in the same over, Gurbaz, who was looking good for his sixth ODI ton, was involved in a mix-up with Afghan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi and was run out.
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At this point, Afghanistan’s run-rate was pretty healthy, more than six runs per over. England then tightened the screws and bowled stingy overs, bringing the runrate down as the Afghans tried to consolidate. Wickets of Shahidi, Azmatullah Omarzai and Mohammad Nabi during the consolidation process didn’t help their cause either.
But, another young Afghan batter, Ikram Alikhil (58 off 66b; 3x4, 2x6) stayed put.
