Afghanistan’s World Cup is turning out to be a long evening in a theatre of dreams. After stunning defending champions England, they put up a clinical performance to beat Pakistan in Chennai. The calmness and professionalism they showed in chasing 283 losing just two wickets on what was expected to be a slow pitch with some turn suggested it was no upset.
A second win in their fifth game didn’t brighten Afghanistan’s semi-final chances, but dented Pakistan’s. Babar Azam & Co are still fifth on the table, ahead of Afghanistan on run rate. But a third successive defeat means they have a mountain to climb in order to finish in the last-four.
This was Afghanistan’s maiden victory over Pakistan in ODIs. It was also their best-ever run chase in this format. Ibrahim Zadran (87), Rahmat Shah (77) and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (65) were the heroes with the bat. The 18-year-old Noor Ahmad, making his ODI World Cup debut, impressed with figures of 3/49 which validated his selection as the fourth spinner.
It was monumental chase. Afghanistan got off to a breezy start and openers Zadran and Gurbaz made sure that they did not throw it away. The first-wicket partnership of 130 set the platform. Everyone who batted after the openers built on this. There was no rush of blood or adrenaline, and no panic. Pakistan’s ‘friendly’ fielding helped the chase considerably.
Both teams wanted to bat first on the dry surface, but Pakistan won the toss. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Afghanistan, as the pitch played much better than expectations under the floodlights in the second innings. Pulling off this extraordinary chase required something exceptional from Afghanistan, and their entire batting line-up stepped up.
Pakistan gained a glimmer of hope when Shaheen Afridi broke the opening partnership by dismissing Gurbaz in his second spell. Rahmat, a senior figure in the Afghan team, took charge after that dismissal. He was well supported by skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi. The duo added 96 for the unbroken third-wicket stand that sealed the win with an over to spare.
Earlier, Imam-ul-Haq and Abdullah Shafique provided Pakistan with a solid start, putting together 56 runs for the first wicket. However, Azmatullah Omarzai struck for Afghanistan, dismissing Imam immediately after the power play.
Captain Babar and Shafique maintained the momentum, until Afghan skipper Shahidi introduced spin from both ends. The spinners applied pressure in the middle overs, with Noor breaking the 54-run partnership by dismissing Shafique for 58. In the same spell, Noor also removed Mohammad Rizwan, pushing Pakistan to the backfoot.
Saud Shakeel struggled to rotate the strike early on in his innings, particularly against Mohammad Nabi. The veteran off-spinner eventually dismissed him for 25, leaving Pakistan at 163/4 after 34 overs. The Pakistani team management made decided to promote Shadab Khan, who missed the last game against Australia, ahead of Iftikhar Ahmed.
In the last 10 overs, there was a pressing need to increase the run rate. Babar attempted to boost the scoring by hitting Noor Ahmad for a six in the first ball of the 42nd over. However, he fell in the same over. Iftikhar then quickly changed the course of the innings.
Nabi, Noor and Rashid Khan had all completed their spells by the 45th over. Shahidi chose Azmatullah Omarzai over Mujeeb Ur Rahman and those overs proved costly. Shadab and Iftikhar added 73 runs in 45 deliveries, pushing the score past 280. A total of 91 runs were added in the last 10 overs.