After Ireland got the better of West Indies a couple of days ago, there were similar expectations when Afghanistan took on Bangladesh in the clash of the lower-ranked Asian neighbours. In spite of Bangladesh having greater experience, a number of people were actually expecting Afghanistan to put it across Bangladesh in spite of the fact that this was their World Cup debut game. After all, Afghanistan had indeed defeated in the Asia Cup. But, the World Cup is a completely different scenario. Some of the expectations from them were actually unfair. In the end, Afghanistan had their moments in the game, but a massive defeat was a fair result.
If Afghanistan want to look back at the positives they achieved from the match, it was definitely their performance with the ball in the first half. Shapoor Zadran and Mirwais Ashraf kept things extremely tight in their first spell while also picking up a couple of wickets each. Although all the top four Bangladesh batsmen got into double figures Afghanistan did not allow them to settle. They had Bangladesh somewhat on the back foot at 119 for 4 approaching the 30th over. Hamid Hasan, Aftab Alam and Mohammad Nabi also bowled well for the debutants.
It was only during the partnership between Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim that Afghanistan were really found out. The team's lack of experience under the crunch circumstances came to the fore as Bangladesh went about rebuilding the innings without a lot of trouble. Had they claimed a couple of wickets during that phase Afghanistan could have put Bangladesh back under pressure. But, the same bunch that looked mighty impressive in the first half of the innings were clueless as to how to stop the flow of runs once Shakib and Mushfiqur counterattacked.
In spite of Bangladesh's comeback with the bat, Afghanistan would have been pleased to have restricted their opponents to well under 300. And, with a good start, they could have given the Bangladeshis a run for their money. But, this is where they faltered. Mashrafe Mortaza and Rubel Hossain combined to reduce Afghanistan to 3 for 3 in the third over, and that was game, set and match for Bangladesh. Samiullah Shenwari and Nabi fought hard for Afghanistan with 40s, but the run rate had gone well out of the team's grasp by then, and the two experienced men fell victim to the same.
Keeping the eventual result aside, Afghanistan can take a lot of lessons from the match. Although they ended up losing by a massive margin, they did show some spark. As for Bangladesh, it was a satisfying performance. They could have easily slipped had they taken things somewhat lightly. The performances Shakib, Rahim and Mortaza were reinforcements of the fact that they are high quality players. If anything, they would like batsmen who get starts to carry on, which wasn't the case against Afghanistan. Also, their bowling lost some sting following a wonderful start, which is something they cannot afford against stronger sides.
--By A Cricket Analyst
