Not a flourish but Afghanistan finish with a fight as South Africa win | Cricket

Afghanistan’s fate in the 2023 ODI World Cup was sealed at the halfway mark of their last league game on Friday. Needing to beat South Africa by over 400 runs to have a chance of qualifying for the semi-finals, they were bowled-out for 244 after opting to bat first at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Despite being reduced to 116/6 in the 28th over, they had managed to bat the full quota of overs thanks to Azmatullah Omarzai’s unbeaten 97. With the ball, too, they kept showing incredible fighting spirit to take the match till the end. Unfortunately, the Proteas completed their second successful chase of the tournament and, riding on Rassie van der Dussen’s knock of 76 not out, finished on 247/5 in 47.3 overs.

The five-wicket loss ended a historic campaign for the Afghans. That they were in contention till their last match was a testament to their exponential growth as a cricket nation through the course of the tournament.

Four years ago at the World Cup in England, they went nine matches without a win. In their first appearance at the marquee event, four years before that in Australia-New Zealand, all they had was a one-wicket win over Scotland to show from six matches. Their ODI record this year stood at three wins and eight losses at the start of October.

But what did Afghanistan do this time around in India? They claimed four victories, three of them against former world champions, and finished above England, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Netherlands.

A lot of the credit for Afghanistan’s rise must be given to their head coach – former England batter Jonathan Trott – who lent a sense of calm and clarity to the dressing room as his simple white-board plan for the chase against Sri Lanka suggested. Former India cricketer Ajay Jadeja, too, was lauded by the players for his tips and guidance as mentor.

But ultimately, Afghanistan’s success came down to the character shown by the players. This is a country whose people have suffered terribly from a recent earthquake, whose cricket board has little by way of resources and whose team gets to play far fewer matches than their opponents across a season. So, Hashmatullah Shahidi and his men battled as if it was for a bigger purpose.

Raising the bar

After losing their first two matches, Afghanistan won four of their next five. They lost to India by eight wickets and responded with a 69-run win against England. They lost to New Zealand by 149 runs and responded with an eight-wicket win against Pakistan. There were still some lingering doubts about their capability to chase and they responded by completing a hattrick of successful chases by beating Sri Lanka and Netherlands.

Heading into the tournament, Afghanistan’s bowling was expected to pose their biggest threat. In Rashid Khan, they had one of the finest white-ball spinners in world cricket. Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Mohammad Nabi, Noor Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Omarzai and Fazalhaq Farooqi capped off a promising unit.

However, as the manner of their victories suggest, it was the batters who truly elevated their game. While openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran provided a number of brisk starts, with the latter even becoming the first player from the country to score a World Cup century, all four batters in the middle order – Rahmat Shah, Shahidi, Azmatullah Omarzai and Ikram Alikhil – returned with higher averages in this World Cup compared to their career averages before it.

Like more established teams, there was a calculated approach and sense of maturity in the way Afghanistan went about their business. They say practice makes perfect and one can only imagine this side growing from strength to strength if they get more opportunities. The average age of their 15-member squad in this World Cup was less than 25. It will hardly be a surprise if they go on to achieve greater things in the years to come.

“If we get more games, we’ll definitely keep improving,” skipper Shahidi had said before the South Africa clash. “We’re expecting our cricket board and ICC to give us more matches for our improvement.”

Afghanistan was the only team in this World Cup that took a lap of honour on three occasions during the league stage. They did so after wins against three former champions – England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka – in Delhi, Chennai and Pune. People in the stadiums knew they had seen a special bunch of players who played with a smile and punched above their weight.