Who would have imagined, after 40 group stage matches, that an Afghanistan player would be sitting atop both the leading run-scorers’ and wicket-takers’ charts in the T20 World Cup?
The Afghans were quite the unstoppable force until they ran into a tartar against co-hosts West Indies in St. Lucia. They brushed aside Uganda by 125 runs and Papua New Guinea by seven wickets with nearly five overs in hand, but it was with their defeat of New Zealand that announced themselves as serious contenders.
Changing tides
Afghanistan’s strength has traditionally been spin with talismanic captain Rashid Khan as the destroyer in chief. Support has come from Mohammad Nabi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and the fast-rising Noor Ahmed. Against New Zealand, their commanding 84-run victory was fashioned by a left-arm quick who has blown more cold than hot in the past, but who is having a World Cup to savour.
Fazalhaq Farooqi, only 23, has already played 70 white-ball internationals. The last four, all in this World Cup, have brought him a tournament-high 12 of his 49 wickets in 38 T20Is. He is three wickets clear of seven bowlers perched on nine wickets apiece, among them New Zealand swing exponent Trent Boult, and Akeal Hosein, the West Indies left-arm spinner, signifying that at least so far in this competition, left is right when it comes to bowling.
Farooqi’s 12 wickets have come at an average of 6.66, the second highest among the top eight wicket-takers. He boasts an economy of 5.68 runs per over and a strike-rate of 7.16 balls per wicket, the best of anyone who has sent down more than 24 deliveries. The Afghan pacer killed off the contest against the Kiwis early on with the scalps of Finn Allen (first ball), Devon Conway and Daryl Mitchell in his first spell to rock the New Zealand chase.
Afghanistan is an outfit that is comfortable putting runs on the board, and then using their spinners to strangle the opposition. New Zealand was asked to hunt down 160 but fell woefully short, bowled out for 75; Farooqi exposed the soft underbelly, and Rashid and Nabi shared six wickets to consign Kane Williamson’s men to one of their heaviest defeats in all World Cups, ensuring a rare first-round elimination for a team that has made it a habit of inhabiting the knockout rounds in ICC events.
Afghanistan’s 159 for six had been shaped by fearless opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who smashed five fours and as many sixes in his 56-ball 80. Gurbaz is the World Cup’s highest run-scorer, at 167, two runs ahead of West Indies’ Nicholas Pooran. His runs have been attractive and pacy , with an average of 41.75, strike-rate of 150.45, ten fours and ten sixes in 111 balls faced. Gurbaz, who played the business end of IPL 2024 for eventual champions Kolkata Knight Riders after Phil Salt returned to England for national duty, has suddenly emerged as a dependable attacking option at the top of the batting tree, raising hope that Afghanistan is ready to progress beyond ‘dangerous floaters’ capable of the odd upset or two to genuine title aspirants.
Just a number
The ICC rankings place the Afghans at No. 10 in the 20-over format, but rankings count for little, as USA showed against Pakistan and Nepal nearly did against South Africa. Not so long ago, Afghanistan was a novelty, its intrepid batting approach and assortment of spinners of the ‘regular’ and ‘mystery’ types lending allure and mystique. The Afghans touched a chord with their bold, carefree – sometimes careless – approach and were universally popular because their cricketing journey is a great story of resilience and determination. The unbelievable propensity to look adversity in the eye and make it surrender with the broadness of their smiles, the bigness of their hearts, the joie de vivre that accompanies their every step on the cricket field will always have the crowd rooting for the South Asian side.
Afghanistan has now added an inner steel that has come through experience – the experience of playing more consistently at the international level, the experience of rubbing shoulders almost through the year with the best in the business in the multiple franchise-based leagues where they have been hot properties. Its boldness with the bat has been complemented by a greater maturity and game and situational awareness. Rashid Khan’s men have gotten much better at assessing conditions, and have swapped their one-size-fits-all mindset to customise their game to meet the need of the hour and is therefore a far more potent force.
For all its assortment of spin riches, it’s not always that the bowlers make up for the lack of batting might. If Afghanistan is now a team that everyone is truly wary of, it’s through the emergence of Gurbaz as an influential factor, of Azmatullah Omazai as a multi-geared batter, of another of its former skippers, Gulbadin Naib, delivering on the promise that thrust him into the limelight, of Zadrans Ibrahim and Najibullah to pull their weight, of Nabi and Karim Janat and Rashid to provide flair and innovativeness towards the back-end of an innings.
These aren’t names which will send shivers down the spines of opposing bowling attacks, but when they come together as they have done thrice in this World Cup, they do more than enough to allow their bowlers to get to work. Earlier, it was about tackling the spinners with care, if not circumspection, and targeting the fast bowlers. Now that Farooqi, Naveen-ul-Haq, and Omarzai have established themselves as wicket-takers with the new ball, the bowling unit’s all-round strength and depth has lent a new dimension to Afghanistan’s challenge.
No more underdogs
Former England batter and Afghanistan head coach, Jonathan Trott, has played a key role in making his players believe that they are far better than just blazing cameos or the occasional spell of brilliance with the ball. To effect a change in collective mindset is no easy task; Trott never took the easy way out even when he was a player, and it is no surprise that his phlegmatic messaging is beginning to resonate with his wards. Trott has been mindful of retaining the core essence of Afghan cricket, which revolves around flair and the players being themselves; by fusing that with ambition and self-belief, he has developed a vital core group that is one huge engine room at whose heart is Rashid, the pixie leg-spinner who also bats as if the book on technique was never written, or at least as if he has never even spotted it, let alone rifled through it.
The 104-run drubbing against West Indies couldn’t have come at a more opportune time, in a manner of speaking. Ahead of the Super Eight, it must have been a chastening wake-up call, exposing the Afghans to the reality that they may not always have the luxury of batting first, that they will be stretched and punished and harried by powerful batting line-ups capable of making merry on good batting surfaces.
In Group 1 of the Super 8 phase, Afghanistan’s mettle will be seriously tested. Up against them are India, at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown on Thursday, followed by Australia and Bangladesh. On paper, this is the lighter of the two pools; Group 2 is populated by defending champions England, South Africa, and co-hosts West Indies and United States, the latter showing in the first stage that they are no pushovers. Afghanistan will fancy a defeat of Bangladesh and a defeat of at least one of India or Australia to make a strong push for a semifinal berth, and who is to say that they wouldn’t succeed, especially considering they themselves are beginning to embrace the champion mindset.
India will spot a potential banana skin on Thursday. In January, the Afghans pushed a near full-strength India close in a three-match T20I series, the final match in Bengaluru going to a second Super Over after Rohit Sharma and Rinku Singh had rallied them from the depths of 22 for four. That night, left-arm quick Fareed Ahmad had done the damage with three wickets, among them Virat Kohli for a first-ball duck. Kohli is coming off a first-ball dismissal in his last outing, also dismissed by a left-arm pacer, but such are the riches Rashid is able to summon that Fareed hasn’t played a T20I since February though he is in the World Cup squad.
India, vastly more experienced and with an array of household names, will begin Thursday as obvious favourites, its challenge boosted by the No. 1 ranking it has held for a while now. No. 1 vs No. 10 might appear a battle of unequals, but nothing bridges the gulf between teams more than the 20-over format. In any case, Afghanistan is a better unit than its ranking would indicate. Rohit and his boys won’t view the game as a walk in the park, a glorified open nets session before their showdown against Bangladesh in North Sound on Saturday. Afghanistan taken lightly is an open invitation for disaster, a recipe for the unsavoury taste of humble pie. That by itself is a huge victory for Afghanistan, though it is on the other more meaningful victory that Rashid’s men will have their eyes on.
