Bharath Ramaraj in Dubai
This is an interesting observation about Afghanistan in the shortest format of the game – They have only beaten sides like the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Zimbabwe and Papua New Guinea since the start of December 2023 while chasing down a target. Just scratch the surface further and you will unearth one more fact – They have also lost to teams like Ireland and the UAE while pursuing a target of 150 or more. In other words, chasing targets, especially in excess of 150, has become an Achilles’ heel for the Afghanistan.
So, it shouldn’t come as a major surprise that Afghanistan slipped to losses while looking to surpass totals of 154 and 141, against Bangladesh and Pakistan, recently. To cut some slack, both the tracks, in Sharjah and Abu Dhabi, offered some assistance to the bowlers. But Afghanistan do have a problem or two while batting second.
The strike-rates of the mainstays of the Afghanistan batting unit help us build a narrative. Ibrahim Zadran, one of the bedrocks of their top six, has a strike-rate of just 98.6 while batting second. Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s strike-rate is a little better at 129.1. Sediqullah Atal, another top-order batter, has a strike-rate of a mere 80 when Afghanistan are hunting down a target.
No wonder that Afghanistan could muster just 27 in the Powerplay against Bangladesh in an Asia Cup encounter, and ended up with a mere 29 in the tri-series final against Pakistan. When the top order is not able to take advantage of the Powerplay, then it puts enormous pressure on the middle order, especially in tricky conditions in the UAE.
Under Jonathan Trott, Afghanistan have sharpened their weapons by bringing in a bit of method to their game. They have more than enough firepower in their spin department. But if Afghanistan want to fulfil their lofty ambitions in the shortest version of the game, then they perhaps need to tweak their batting template.
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