RevSportz Comment
Everyone remembers Lord’s on June 25, 1983. What most don’t know, however, is that the seeds for the most improbable of World Cup victories were sown at the Albion Sports Complex in Guyana three months earlier. India didn’t just beat West Indies, they won fair and square, with Kapil Dev smashing a 38-ball 72, and then leading a complete bowling performance.
No one is delusional enough to suggest that Afghanistan will go on and win the World Cup from here. But what they pulled off at Chepauk was undoubtedly their most satisfying and important victory. Beating England, the defending champions, was a momentous achievement. But in that game, they had batted first and then defended the total with spirit and skill.
Chasing in a high-pressure World Cup game is a completely different matter. On the nine previous occasions that Afghanistan had batted second in a World Cup match, they had only once gone past 250, finishing with 288 in a 23-run loss to West Indies in 2019. At Chepauk, they didn’t just hunt down 283. They did so with ridiculous ease, and total professionalism.
Time after time on the world stage, Afghanistan have been let down by the indiscipline and poor shot selection of their batters. Mohammad Shahzad, their long-time wicketkeeper, was a cult figure among cricket fans, and no mean batter. But stacked against his six ODI hundreds were a gallery of horror shots. Such Hollywood-or-bust batting makes for good highlights reels, but seldom leads to team wins in important matches.
In Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Afghanistan have unearthed an opening pair of genuine quality. The duo average 50.95 together, with four century partnerships. Two months ago, in Hambantota, they added 227 in a game that Naseem Shah stole in the final over. This time, they added 130, but with such control that even Gurbaz’s dismissal to a reckless shot off Shaheen Shah Afridi didn’t feel like anything more than a brief halt on the road to victory.
That opening stand assumed far greater importance because Afghanistan’s bowlers had once again dropped the ball in the final stages. Having kept Pakistan to 191 in the first 40 overs, they went for 91 in the final ten. Azmatullah Omarzai and Naveen-ul-Haq were the main culprits, with too many balls on a length or in the slot. Iftikhar Ahmed and Shadab Khan didn’t miss out.
With the wind from that four-and-six blitz in their sails, you expected Pakistan’s new-ball bowlers to come out firing. But though there was huff and puff and a bit of movement, Afghanistan had 60 on the board at the end of the Power play. Once Afridi, Hasan Ali and Haris Rauf couldn’t make a dent, it was too much to expect heroics from the slow bowlers.
If anything, this match illustrated the huge gulf in class that exists between Pakistan and the top sides when it comes to quality spin bowling. Afghanistan, despite Mujeeb Ur Rahman having an off day, are far better stocked in that department. Though Rashid Khan, their talisman, went wicketless, Noor Ahmed stole the show with three scalps on debut, including the key ones of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan. At just 18, the ceiling for improvement that Noor has borders on the frightening.
*****
Not long after Albion, in the opening fixture for both teams in the 1983 World Cup, India repeated the dose with a thoroughly disciplined effort at Old Trafford. The late Yashpal Sharma anchored the batting with 89, and a combination of pace (Roger Binny) and spin (Ravi Shastri) ensured that West Indies never got close to the target of 263.
Having lost all seven of their previous matches to Pakistan, some right at the death, Afghanistan would happily have taken an outside edge off the final ball. That they didn’t need such brinkmanship is testament to how well they batted. It wasn’t just the openers either. Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi are now the most prolific partnership in Afghanistan’s ODI history, having added 1369 runs at 50.70. They didn’t add to their four century stands, but the 96 they combined for today was worth so much more.
We could write reams about how insipid Pakistan were. No intent with the bat, no energy in the field, and no teeth with the ball. But leave that aside for now. This was all about Afghanistan, and a performance that will never be forgotten by their millions of fans. Beating their powerful neighbour for the first time was special enough. But the clinical manner in which it was done elevates this performance to the stuff of legend.