Kudos to Afghan team

Thank goodness Pakistan won the third T20I against Afghanistan, and avoided the humiliation of a 3-0 whitewash at the hands of a baby of cricket. Even though without its five main players — skipper Babar Azam, wicketkeeper batsman Muhammad Rizwan, flamboyant opener Fakhar Zaman and speedsters Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf — Team Pakistan was still expected to prevail over Afghanistan which is a much junior team that earned the ICC Test status only in 2018 i.e. 66 years after Greenshirts got the same. Also, Team Pakistan was studded with an array of young talent that earned a place in the national side based on their impressive performance in the recently concluded eighth edition of PSL.

It was Pakistan’s batting that was chiefly responsible for the defeats in the first two games of the series played at Sharjah Cricket Stadium. The bowlers still did their part, stretching the games to 18^th and 20^th overs in the defence of meager targets of 93 and 131 in the first and second game respectively. Thanks to the bowlers, the Shadab men were even in sight of victory at some stage in both encounters. And with the batting clicking in the third game, Team Pakistan managed a handsome 182-run total that proved too much for the young and immature Afghans who were booked for just 116 in the 19^th over.

Even though the series was lost, it turned out to be a good exercise for our cricket managers as regards gauging the bench strength. And a major takeaway from the series is that we need to work harder on our reserves, especially in the batting department. None of the new players stood out though, opening batsman Saim Ayub and pacers Ihsanulla and Zaman Khan did make their presence felt — and are likely to be in contention for a place in the New Zealand-bound squad that will play five T20Is and as many ODIs against the Black Caps. Kudos, meanwhile, to Afghanistan that won a series against a top-six-ranked ICC team for the first time.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 29^th, 2023.

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