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Journalism of Courage
They might be viewed as T20 franchise fiends in a freelancing world of fast cricket and faster bucks. But on the eve of the Sri Lanka game in Pune, captain Hashmatullah Shahidi would reiterate how Afghans had always been firmly focussed on the 50-over format as preparation for this World Cup began two years back.
“We played a lot of domestic 50-over cricket, as well as against Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It was about keeping belief when we weren’t doing good. We gave a lot of chances to players through good and bad times,” the captain would explain of the meticulous background work that went into ambushing England and stubbing out Pakistan.
Far from being flash in the pan performances, the bubbling Afghan broth has been a slow-cook, infusing flavours, simmering gradually. Not for them is the jettisoning or sidelining of the 50-over game while reveling in the gold-rush of T20 riches.
Hashmatullah’s assessment of Afghanistan’s batting too was framed by 50-over contours, and lasting the distance. The chase against Pakistan was a classic in pacing. Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah have been critiqued for conservative strike-rates. But Afghanistan were aggressive in their mid overs against India, and went at a run-a-ball against Pakistan. “Sometimes there are back-to-back wickets and there’s pressure (to rebuild). When the team gives us momentum, we try to take it forward. We’ll see the situation in future games and bat accordingly if there are early wickets. The plan is always to play out 50 overs,” the captain says, not falling for rushes of blood, getting caught in T20 whirls like a few other sides.
In November 2022, Ibrahim Zadran smacked 162 off 138 as they racked up 313 against the Lankans, though Charith Asalanka helped them chase that down. Earlier in June this year, Afghanistan pursued 268 successfully in the first of their three one-dayers of a bilateral. The captain’s own form blipped after India at Delhi. “I struggled against Bangladesh and England so I spoke to Jonathan Trott, and he gave one or two key words that have been helpful.”
Hashmatullah is more bullish about his side’s bowling arsenal. “Our bowling is our strength. We’ll definitely attack them with our bowlers and put pressure on them,” he says, daring to unleash Rashid, Nabi, Mujeeb or Noor.
Not just Rashid but Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Noor Ahmad have been part of the Lankan Premier League and the captain maintains that the entire team is intimately attuned to the Lankan way of cricket as a result. “9 to 10 matches we’ve played against them in 50 overs. That’s enough to know them,” he says.
The Lankans are on an upsurge after beating Netherlands and England, and now find themselves in a tricky situation of facing an audacious Afghanistan.
From 1996 to 2015, they’ve produced a lot of unorthodox bowlers, a product of their flourishing system of 600 schools that encouraged flair and flamboyance. But since Ajantha Mendis, they haven’t quite unearthed a genuine mystery bowler, and Maheesh Theekshana is not yet in that league and is tethered to the containing role of bottling one end up. In the same period as their mavericks dried up, Afghanistan found three – Rashid, Mujeeb and Noor, the last one from the sheer speed of his googlies. They went on to fortify them with confidence and backing their non-conformist hand release techniques.
Veteran Angelo Mathews called in to bolster their flagging unit in place of Pathirana – Lahiru Kumara was the latest to be replaced, going down to a quadriceps injury in Pune – says Lankans are aware of the threat awaiting them. “It’s gonna be an extremely challenging game for us. They’ve made some good progress in the last few years. They’ve got tremendous players, some exciting bowlers, and very experienced guys such as Rashid, Nabi, Gurbaz. All these guys play a lot of leagues around the world and they’ve played on the biggest stage for such a long time. And then they know exactly how to finish off games. They are never a roll-over for any team,” he said.
Lankan assistant coach Naveed Nawaz was quizzed on whether they had any out-of-the-box solutions to tackle the Afghans, but he stressed that they needed to veer nowhere away from the formula. “There will be runs on this ground and we have to ensure we make the fewest mistakes and play a tidy game.” There wasn’t a better enunciation of just how straitjacketed Lankan cricket had gotten, shunning all adventure and mystery, which was now the calling card of the Afghans.
