Published: Jul 07, 2016, 04:54 PM (IST)
Edited: Jul 07, 2016, 06:46 PM (IST)
To win and to have the hunger to win are two different things. The modern day cricket experts have described a term called ‘minnows’ for associate nations. Well, without a doubt, no team wants to be branded a minnow, which means a small or insignificant force or organisation. Bangladesh have done enough to not be called as minnows anymore. They cannot be taken lightly anymore in any ICC event or bilateral series since their upward spiral in ODIs. Afghanistan are almost following the same path slowly and steadily. They have a few significant achievements to show for the entire cricketing arena. ALSO READ:Nabi’s 3 for 26 allows Afghanistan to beat Scotland by 78 runs in 2nd ODI
Afghanistan’s early encounters with Asian giants:
In the 2014 Asia Cup, held in Bangladesh, big guns like India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were participating but Afghanistan were new to this tournament and were making their debut against all other teams. In their first game, they lost heavily against Pakistan. Though their economical bowling restricted the opponents to below 250, their inexperienced batters could not earn a win for their side. Their hunger to perform against a comparatively weaker team — Bangladesh — was showcased to one and all as this time they did not lose.
Afghanistan scored 254 for 6 in 50 overs and restricted Bangladesh to 222. The celebrations were huge as an inexperienced bunch of players had just shown the world that they were no less than a side which had caused upsets in ICC Cricket World Cups 2007 and 2011. They quickly learned from their mistakes in the first match and bounced back in the span of two days. Till then, they had two good outings with ball and one with bat. In their next two games, against Sri Lanka and India, they were outclassed by two established, experienced, clever teams. Afghanistan showed glimpses of what was in store before inconsistency and inexperience caught up.
Maiden World Cup campaign
In the ICC World Cup 2015, Afghanistan made their debut in the biggest event in cricket — the World Cup. They had powerhouses like Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and England in their group. Not much was expected of them, but they still played without giving much thought on the consequences. They lost the first match against Bangladesh by a big margin, but the hunger was evident.
They turned things around. They gave Sri Lanka a run for their money, and won their first game in their maiden World Cup campaign by beating Scotland in a cliffhanger by 1 wicket. Not easily do debutants win a game or two and provide tough competition to big teams in their first journey in the biggest ICC event.
They played a bilateral series against Zimbabwe in Sharjah in 2015-16. They not only won the 5-match ODI series 3-2 but also won the T20Is 2-0. The unique thing with Afghanistan cricket team is that they challenge and also get the better of Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, who have been playing with the established teams for long and also challenge the top teams to ‘earn a win from them’. Their hunger cannot be matched as it is proved that they are here to stay and they can well get over their ‘learning curve’ anytime soon.
Competitive in the WT20 2016:
In World T20 2016 in India, Afghanistan went past the qualifying stage in style, thrashing every opponent that came their way in the first round. They did not cross the group stages but impressed one and all, again by virtue of their immense quality of learning quickly and not letting their hunger die down.
They scored a competitive 153 for 7 against Sri Lanka but lost by 6 wickets. Chasing a mammoth 210 against South Africa, they managed to reach 172. This kept the Proteas’ on their feet for maximum part while they were bowling. They almost caused an upset against runners-up, England, as they had them on the mat with just 143 to chase. Unfortunately, they were a little too aggressive with their approach and lost by 15 runs. ALSO READ: T20 World Cup 2016: Some memorable moments from the mega-event
Success finally came their way against West Indies. Afghanistan won by 6 runs; it was West Indies’ only defeat in the tournament. It is important to note here that the match meant nothing to the West Indies as they had qualified along with England, and only a drastic defeat could have placed them second in the group standings. On other hand, Afghanistan were playing for pride and to sneak an unlikely victory against a team who are deadly in the format and unbeaten till then. Afghanistan fought hard after posting only 123 on a difficult track at Ferozshah Kotla and won the game by 6 runs. They highlighted a strong point of ‘keep trying till you succeed’ and restored their fans faith in them.
Their hunger to perform stands out:
Currently touring Scotland, Ireland and Netherlands, Afghanistan have won a short bilateral series against Scotland 1-0 and again stamped their authority against another weak team. They are definitely not in the big league yet, but a notch above the other minnows. Other big teams should keep an eye on this team otherwise they may upset their plans in upcoming big ICC events. If Afghanistan gets more exposure and can keep their hunger to learn intact, they will well storm into the big league and their playing style shows they are here to stay.
(Aditya Sahay is a journalist with CricketCountry who is completely into sports and loves writing about cricket in general. He can be followed on Twitter at adisahay7)
