Afghanistan turning out to be one-day wonders

Chandigarh, September 21

Rahul Dravid today spoke up about Afghanistan’s performance in the Asia Cup. “Afghanistan is doing well, I don’t know why we are only focusing on Pakistan,” Dravid said. “Bangladesh too are doing  well. Afghanistan also are a force to reckon with.”

Dravid is right. Afghanistan have been very effective recent times, having won eight of their last 10 ODIs, in which they have posted a competitive total.

Leg-spinner Rashid Khan has been one of the big factors behind Afghanistan’s fine run, with 43 wickets from 21 ODIs in the last 12 months, with an astonishing average of 13.18 and a great economy rate of 3.71. He’s very handy with the bat, too, as he demonstrated when he spanked Bangladesh for 57 off 32 balls yesterday.

Hashmatullah Shahidi, who made 97* today against Pakistan, has been steady, too, with good knocks against Bangladesh (58), Sri Lanka (37), Ireland (34*, 54) in the recent past.

The 17-year-old spinner  Mujeeb Ur Rahman got 2/32 against both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. He has had stint in county cricket with Hampshire and, according to Afghanistan coach Phil Simmons, that has changed his mentality. “Mujeeb himself has had a stint in county and... you can see he’s different in the way he’s thinking about his bowling and impact in all aspects of his game, even his batting,” Simmons, the former West Indies opener, said.

In the ICC World Cup Qualifiers final against West Indies at Harare in March, Afghanistan crushed West Indies by seven wickets, with 56 balls remaining. In that match, the swashbuckling Mohammad Shahzad got 84 and Rahmat Shah made 51. Clearly, Afghanistan’s pool of performers is increasing. 

Coach Simmons is aware of the fact that his team won’t beat top teams regularly, but he’s aware that he has the players who have made Afghanistan quite competitive against higher-ranked teams. “If we can play at our best — not every player will be at his best every day — but once we can find three or four or five players each day at their best on a day, we know we can be competitive against each team and if they are not at their best, we can win the game,” Simmons said after the win over Sri Lanka. 

“Bowlers are our strength and now we’ve been working very hard in trying to get the batsmen to understand that they have to [rise to] meet the bowlers, the bowlers are not going to come down,” he said. “The batting has to get up there to where the bowlers are. We want to have a batsman in the IPL (Indian Premier League) for instance rather than three or two bowlers and an all-rounder, although Rashid will tell me he’s an all-rounder!” 

— TNS, Agencies