Sports

Afghanistan’s bowlers script their first-ever win over Pakistan

Published

4 years ago

2023/03/25

Priyan

Naveen-ul-Haq celebrates after dismissing Saim Ayub

Eleven years on from when these two sides first played each other, Afghanistan secured the win they have arguably wanted more than any other, sweeping Pakistan aside by six wickets in the first T20I in Sharjah. In a clinical performance, where the hosts were the better side from start to finish, they sealed the win in style. The returning Mohammad Nabi was the hero with the bat, a walloped six over mid-off off Ihsanullah capping a brilliant performance with both bat and ball.

Pakistan had chosen to bat first after winning the toss, but Afghanistan immediately established their dominance, keeping the young Pakistan batting order on a leash. On a surface where batting was exceptionally challenging, Pakistan crumbled in the face of a disciplined Afghanistan bowling, frittering away wickets at regular intervals, struggling to transfer any pressure onto the hosts. No Pakistan batter managed to reach 20 as the innings limped along, the 92 for 9 that Pakistan ended with their fifth lowest T20I total.

Afghanistan’s chase made obvious the challenges of batting on this surface, and Pakistan’s pace bowlers made hay with the ball. Ihsanullah was particularly exceptional on debut, taking two wickets in his first three balls as Afghanistan lost three quick wickets, and a resurgent Pakistan threatened to run through their line-up. But in a game where experience mattered more than flamboyance, Nabi came out to calm Afghan nerves, his unbeaten run-a-ball 38 and an assured partnership with Naaijbullah Zadran shutting the door in Pakistan’s faces.

Pakistan’s openers, Saim Ayub and Mohammad Haris, were flying high after a brilliant PSL campaign, but any thoughts of taking the attack to Afghanistan’s bowlers were soon dispelled. On a surface unlike any they faced in the PSL, Haris and Ayub struggled to get bat on ball. Early prodigious swing from Fazalhaq Farooqi set the tone, and as the bowlers preyed on the young openers’ frustrations, they were soon rewarded. Haris tried to hoick a short ball in front of square on the leg side, only to slash it in the air over point, with Azmatullah Omarazi running back and taking the catch over his shoulder.

In the following over, Omarzai trapped Abdullah Shafique lbw, and before the powerplay was over, Ayub fell, too. He was attempting a no-look lap over fine leg, his rendition of that shot was one of the moments of the PSL. On a surface where the ball didn’t quite come onto the bat the same way, he only deflected it onto his stumps.

After being reduced to 39 for 3, there was no respite for Pakistan’s batters. Rashid Khan stepped up to the bowling crease as soon as the powerplay ended. It took him one ball to remove the one Pakistan batter who had demonstrated any sort of competence, utterly deceiving Tayyab Tahir in the flight, ending a breezy nine-ball 16. On a surface where the ball appeared to be stopping in the pitch, Azam Khan was similarly clueless, lobbing Mujeeb Ur Rahman to short midwicket for a two-ball duck.

There were only six balls of pace between the seventh and the 17th over, and in those 11 overs, Pakistan went from shaky to shell-shocked. Reduced to 80 for 8 by this time, there was to be no coming back.

Ihsanullah shouldn’t have had the pressure of defending such a low total in his first international game, but he more than gave it a go. His first international ball grew big on Ibrahim Zadran, rushing the batter with an extra yard of pace, forcing him to splice one up into the air. It was more of the same two balls later as Gulbadin Naib perished in the same way, and a revived Pakistan suddenly smelled blood.

Naseem Shah struck to get rid of the biggest dangerman Rahamanullah Gurbaz the following over, thanks to a sensational grab at short midwicket from Shafique. The wheels had almost come off the Afghanistan innings when a miserly Imad Wasim cleaned up Karim Jannat with a dart into middle stump. At this point, it appeared Pakistan would subject Afghanistan to yet another heartache.

It has been apparent for some time that Nabi’s star has been on the wane, but having been recalled to the side, there was scarcely a better man for Afghanistan to have in the middle. A man whose career has straddled pretty much Afghanistan cricket’s entire history, his wizened, grey experience was the perfect antidote to the nerves and paranoia that would have surrounded his side. Content to see off Imad, he took the emotions out of the contest as he whittled the target down with Najibullah. Aware the required rate was never going to be a problem, the dot balls didn’t pile on the pressure, and the occasional boundary only increased Pakistan’s desperation.

In that search for wickets, Shadab was forced to turn to Ihsanullah and Naseem a couple of overs early, and Nabi sensed his opportunity. Aware the wicket wasn’t quite offering the fast bowlers as much anymore, he smacked Naseem for a pair of fours at the end of the 17th over to bring the target down into the single figures. It was only fitting that a majestic six over mid-off made the win official, a princely shot from a man feted as Afghan cricketing royalty.

Brief scores:

Afghanistan 98 for 4 (Mohammad Nabi 38*, Ihsanullah 2-17) beat Pakistan 92 for 9 (Imad Wasim 18, Mujeeb Ur Rahman 2-9, Mohammad Nabi 2-12, Fazalhaq Farooqi 2-13) by six wickets

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Will India change their opening combination to play Vaibhav Sooryavanshi? [BCCI]

The gulf between India and Afghanistan during the recent bilateral T20I series – which India won 3-0 – was a further vindication of India’s dominance in the format and why they are world champions. It may not have reflected Afghanistan’s pedigree in the format, but it showed the gaps they still have to make up to match the top sides in the world, especially in terms of dot-ball percentage and their strike rate while batting.

Now Afghanistan, who have sent a second string side to the Asian Games, take on a full-strength India in the quarter-finals. Thirteen of the 15 players who toured India for the bilateral series are not in Afghanistan’s squad now, and the only two retained are Darwish Rasooli (the captain) and Abdollah Ahmadzai. Afghanistan’s squad of 15 is so raw that it features six uncapped players and five others who have fewer than ten international appearances. Their combined T20I experience of 262 matches is only a fraction (30%) of India’s 872 games.

There is no Rashid Khan, no Rahmanullah Gurbaz, no Mohammad Nabi, but Nabi’s genes are in the side, in his 20-year-old son Hassan Eisakhil.

India, despite a calendar clash with the home ODI’s against West Indies, which also start on Sunday, have sent their big guns to Japan in search of their second straight gold medal. If there is one team that can field multiple white-ball squads simultaneously, it is India, and they have done that. It is not officially known, however, why Afghanistan have sent such an inexperienced side when their next international fixture, a one-off Test against Bangladesh, only starts on October 9. Afghanistan aren’t alone in sending a second-string squad, perhaps to give their first-choice players some rest in an otherwise packed calendar.

The divide between the two sides is stark and even though they would want to take heart from the scare Japan handed India – even if in a rain-truncated game – recently, Afghanistan themselves lost to Nepal a couple of days ago. Now they have to compete against the world champions, a task they struggled with even at full strength earlier this month.

India have been plagued by injuries of late and one of the names on that list was of Washington Sundar, who returned to action in the Japan T20I last week. He didn’t get to bat and bowled two overs and took two wickets while playing his first game in two months. India would want to give him more game time before he heads back home for the West Indies T20Is that start on October 6 in Lucknow. Barring his niggles, Washington has otherwise had an impressive year across formats with an unbeaten 52in an ODI to give India their first win of their UK tour after he took a four-for in the Test against Afghanistan, during which he also scored 52*.

Pace-bowling allrounder Ismat Alam, 24, has played two Tests and one T20I so far, Afghanistan’s opening game against Japan. Alam was the Player of the Tournament in Afghanistan’s domestic T20s – Shpageeza Cricket League – for scoring 294 runs at a strike rate of 168, while also taking nine wickets. He had starred on his Test debut last year, scoring a century in the lower order that set up Afghanistan’s victory over Zimbabwe. Afghanistan may want to give him a game and hope he steps up again on the big stage.

India had rested Jasprit Bumrah in the one-off T20I against Japan and played Arshdeep Singh and Yash Thakur as their quick options apart from legspinner Ravi Bishnoi and spin-bowling allrounders Axar Patel and Washington Sundar. India will now have to decide whom to leave out for Bumrah. The other question will be if India want to give Vaibhav Sooryavanshi a game early in the tournament, although Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson look undroppable given the runs they scored in the series against Afghanistan.

India (probable): Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer (capt), Tilak Varma, Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Yash Thakur/Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah.

Against Nepal, Afghanistan gave a T20I debut to Faisal Shinozada who top-scored along with the experienced Najibullah Zadran, the only batters who scored in double-digits in the game.

Afghanistan (probable): Mohammad Akram, Hassan Eisakhil, Karim Janat, Darwish Rasooli (capt), Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Ishaq (wk), Ismat Alam, Nangeyalia Khan, Abdollah Ahmadzai, Faridoon Dawoodzai, Arab Gul.

[Cricinfo]