Afghanistan’s head coach Jonathan Trott remarked, “Enjoy tonight…as soon as they wake up tomorrow, the focus is on Australia,” following his team’s victory over England in an ICC ODI match.
The entire 99.5 overs of the contest were an emotional roller coaster. It took a unique effort to go from 39/3 after batting first to posting a total of 325, and that effort was provided by useful 40s from the middle order hitters and Ibrahim Zadran’s 146-ball 177, Afghanistan’s greatest individual score.
They had to bat in different gears as well. To stabilize the innings, Zadran and Hashmatullah Shahidi added 103 runs in 124 balls. Afghanistan then started to build up speed with the 72-run partnership with Azmatullah Omarzai off 63 balls. Mohammad Nabi and Zadran put up 111 runs off only 55 balls to end it on a high note, while the final 10 overs yielded 113 runs.
“It just demonstrated Ibrahim’s skill as a player to be able to reach 325 after being 39 for 3 following the powerplay. Additionally, it’s difficult to stop a batter on these wickets if they get in. Regarding Afghanistan’s batting effort, Trott stated, “I believe he was assisted by the way Azmat came in and the way he played, took the pressure off him, and the way Nabi came in and played, took the pressure off him. Ibrahim could just play and accelerate it without even really knowing it.”
“I think he played some fantastic cricket shots, certainly the straight six off Jofra Archer comes to mind, and some various other shots. And so, I’m really pleased for him. He’s been out for a little bit of time and I hope – he’s looked a little bit out of rhythm. But hopefully he’s found it now. He’s certainly found it, but hopefully he can continue this form, which is a memorable knock for him and one that he’ll remember for a long time but hopefully he can repeat it again on Friday.”
“I think obviously this fight but there’s a resilience to them – to all of them. And I think if you add to some cricketing experience and cricketing match awareness with regards to batting in particular, with regards to how you pace the innings, we saw Ibrahim the way that he’s done today, we’ve seen Gurbaz do it in the past, and we’ve seen various players come in, that it’s not always down to one person. So that self-belief is vital and it starts within, but it’s also pretty infectious and it spreads among the group,” continued Trott.
Afghanistan, however, needed to overcome another barrier, this time with the ball. England also lost early wickets in the chase but Joe Root formed important partnerships with the middle order on way to his first ODI ton since June 2019. Root was bringing the game very close even as Afghanistan continued to chip away, but he lost to Omarzai with 39 needed off 26.
England needed 13 off the last over with Adil Rashid and Mark Wood at the crease after Jamie Overton and Jofra Archer helped bring it down to 19 off 16 but both perished in consecutive overs. Under pressure, Omarzai bowled a superb final over, giving up just singles off the first four balls before taking the decisive wicket as Afghanistan defeated England in yet another historic match and eliminated their rivals from the semifinals.
Visibly unhappy, England captain Jos Buttler attributed their loss on the last 10 overs of their bowling innings and the frontline hitters’ inability to sustain Joe Root for extended periods of time.
“I think we got off to a terrific start with those early wickets, but we were unable to grab a few more after that. Ibrahim deserves praise for his outstanding innings, but going for 113 in the final ten was clearly too many, and it made the chase even more difficult. Additionally, Joe Root played his usual Joe Root innings during the chase, which were full of class, poise, character, and skill. Buttler stated that one of us in the top six had to accompany him for a longer period of time.
In addition to England’s troubles, Mark Wood only bowled eight overs due to a knee injury. Since he had left the field, England was unable to use him in the closing stages and had to rely on Joe Root and Liam Livingstone for the 47th and 50th overs. Root’s over produced 23 runs, giving Afghanistan the lead in the dying stages, despite Livingstone giving up just two runs and taking two wickets in the last over.
“Unfortunately, sports-related injuries occur when you least expect them to. And I believe I was making it a little challenging to figure out how to play with them while they were down three wickets. I wanted to attack and find ways to really open up the game. It’s never easy, then. And that was the equilibrium we felt secure in before the game. And sure, it clearly alters the situation a little if someone is hurt,” Buttler added.
