Afghanistan’s performance this World Cup has gone a long way in establishing the country as a serious squad in international cricket.
Afghanistan put together an impressive performance against Australia in the Cricket World Cup today but came up short. The Aussies needed a miracle, and they got one.
The Afghan national team has been on a Cinderella run in the tournament so far, knocking off defending champion England, cricket powerhouse Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the Netherlands. In the last World Cup in 2019, Afghanistan didn’t win a single match. The World Cup is a ten-team round-robin tournament, played in the one-day-international (ODI) format, where each side is limited to 50 overs, and matches are decided in one day. Afghanistan is one of only twelve countries in the world with Test status from the International Cricket Council, which means it is allowed to play the highest form of cricket. It is the most recent country to earn that status. Despite all the tragedies that have befallen the country, the national cricket team has been a bright spot.
Aside from India, which has been unbeatable this tournament, Australia was Afghanistan’s toughest opponent so far. (They’ll finish the round-robin against South Africa, another very strong team, on Friday.) But the Afghan team put on its best offensive performance yet, scoring 291 runs against Australia’s formidable bowling.
Afghanistan achieved a goal that head coach Jonathan Trott set for the team earlier in the tournament: Score a century. Ibrahim Zadran went above and beyond, scoring 129 not out from the second spot in the lineup. Rashid Khan (who played in Major League Cricket in the U.S.), despite being known primarily for his bowling, and batting near the bottom of Afghanistan’s lineup, scored 35 not out on only 18 balls to give his side a boost at the end. Afghanistan’s 291 runs was the highest score it has yet achieved this tournament, besting its 286 runs against Pakistan and 284 against England.
It’s a strong score in general, and difficult to beat in an ODI match. That’s especially true when Australia’s two opening batsmen, David Warner and Travis Head, combined for only 18 runs — and Warner scored all 18. At one point, Australia was 91 for seven, which means they had scored only 91 runs, and seven of their batsmen were already out. When ten batsmen are out, your side is done batting. Just a few batsmen would have to do a lot of scoring.
Unfortunately for Afghanistan, Glenn Maxwell, from the sixth spot in the Australian lineup, scored 201 runs not out, becoming the first player in Australian cricket history to score a double-century in one-day-international cricket. He did so while cramping in the Mumbai heat for hours. Another batsman was ready and waiting to replace him if he had to quit due to the pain. By the end, he was batting without moving his feet, such were the cramps in his legs. Australian captain Pat Cummins called it “the greatest ODI innings that’s ever happened.” In the 4,696 all-time ODI matches, Maxwell’s 201 not out is the highest ever score by a batsman sixth or lower in the lineup.
It’s just part of cricket: You can put together a great team effort and do a lot of things right, but one guy can just go on a tear and beat you. The inverse can happen as well, where a performance like Maxwell’s might go toward a losing effort overall. But Australia came out on top today and secured its spot in the semifinals.
The top four teams advance out of the round-robin and into the semifinals. India, South Africa, and Australia have already secured their spots. Though Afghanistan isn’t mathematically eliminated, it is highly unlikely to advance to the semifinals. The other two teams contesting the fourth spot, Pakistan and New Zealand, would both need to lose against weaker teams (England and Sri Lanka, respectively), and Afghanistan will have to beat South Africa in its last match. If either Pakistan or New Zealand wins, Afghanistan wouldn’t advance even if they defeat South Africa, because they’d be tied in the standings, and ties are determined by net run rate for the entire tournament. Afghanistan’s losses are much worse than Pakistan’s or New Zealand’s, so they’d lose the tie-breaker.
Afghanistan’s performance this World Cup has gone a long way in establishing the new Test country as a serious squad in international cricket. All while the country recovers from an earthquake and in the aftermath of the Taliban’s retaking control after the U.S. withdrawal. Trott said he wanted the team to “bring joy and happiness” to the Afghan people. They certainly have, and they have a young, talented team that will have many more opportunities going forward.