Fiery Warner sends Afghans flying

Rohit Mahajan in Perth

Afghanistan were competitive for about five overs in the game. The match lasted 87.3 overs. For over 80 overs, Afghanistan received the severest punishment possible from Australia. David Warner blasted 178 off 133 balls; in comparison, Steven Smith was positively tortoise-like in his 95 off 98 balls. After their partnership of 260 (off 34.3 overs) was broken, Glenn Maxwell provided a tremendous fillip that took the score past 400 runs.

After that, it was only a question of whether Afghanistan would be able to bat out 50 overs, and how big the margin of victory would be for the home team. The answer to the first question was no, and that to the second was 275 runs.

Before this game, all the hype was around the Afghanistan team, who'd scored their first win of their first World Cup against Scotland in their previous game. Australia came here a bit downcast, beaten by New Zealand in a thriller.

Afghanistan wanted to be positive in this game — they decided to bowl first after winning the toss. Andy Moles, their coach, said that if Afghanistan were to beat Australia, it could happen in only one scenario — Australia had to bat first and restricted to about 300 runs, and the Afghanistan stroke-makers would then try to blast to that total. “If we'd batted first and made about 260 runs, I don't think we would have had any chance to win the game,” said Moles.

So Afghanistan invited Australia to bat first on a hard, batsman-friendly wicket. Three overs into the game, Australia were 14/1; after seven overs, they were 30/1, and Afghanistan could persist with two slips. The storm began in the ninth over — Warner hit Dawlat Zadran for four with a perfect drive on the off, and then pulled a short one on the on. He then struck Hamid Hassan, war paint on his face, for three fours in the 10th over. Hamid is a veritable human Hercules, bursting out of his shirt. He bowls with good speed, touching 146kmph, and can deliver a mean yorker. But he, and the other pacers, seemed to get carried away at the quickest wicket in the world. He bowled short, and Warner ploughed him for four with a pull; Hassan bowled wide outside off, and Warner drove it in the air over the man at mid-off; Hamid then tried a slower ball, and Warner lofted him again, straight over his head.

The flood began, and Afghanistan simply went with the flow. The bowlers didn't know what to do. They forgot the coach's instruction that if the Australia must score, they must earn those runs through the straight boundaries. The bowlers lost their lines and lengths. That's what happens when a terrifying storm is blowing through town — you don't know where to run. Afghanistan didn't have anywhere to run. The partnership of 260, with a scoring rate of 7.53, ended when Warner got too much under a ball from Shapoor Zadran, and hit it very high into the air; Mohammad Nabi at mid-on waited an eternity, placed himself under the ball and held on. At that stage, 75 balls were still to be bowled, and people were wondering if Warner was going to get the first triple century of One-day cricket.

Maxwell came in and trebled the punishment. The Afghans tried to bowl yorkers, and they got them wrong — and Maxwell hit them for sixers at will. He hit a most incredible shot when he simply reverse-flicked Shapoor Zadran for a six over third man.

Shapoor Zadran got Smith with a slower ball; Hassan bowled James Faulkner with the best ball of the innings, an almost unplayable yorker. Afghanistan pulled Australia back a bit when Hassan bowled two overs for 10 runs, getting the wicket of Faulkner, towards the end. By then, Australia had got at least 150 runs beyond Afghanistan's best abilities.

Some five overs of excellence ensured that Afghanistan were not disgraced — they showed they can rattle even Australia. They need encouragement and experience. Give it to them.

Highest team totals in odIs

443-9
Sri Lanka v Netherlands, Amstelveen, 2006

439-2
South Africa v West Indies, Johannesburg, 2015

438-9
South Africa v Australia, Johannesburg 2006

434-4
Australia v South Africa Johannesburg, 2006

418-5
South Africa v Zimababwe, Potchefstroom, 2006

418-5
India v West Indies, Indore, 2011

417-6
Australia v Afghanistan, Perth, 2015