Afghanistan's first ever win over Pakistan in ODI cricket

[DeadlyVenom]

Enough of this BS that it’s because of Pak that Afghanistan has cricket today! What a load of rubbish!

Hard work, commitment, dedication and talent is what got Afghanistan to where they are now and they owe Pak nothing, absolutely nothing!

This is all Afghanistan’s dedication that is paying off.

100%. We need to ask ourselves if merely playing in Pakistan can produce top-quality spin bowlers and dynamic batsmen, then how the hell have the Afghans managed it, but we haven't!

 

[Champ_Pal]

Congrats to Afg fans on the win and their team deserved it for the great cricket they played. Right through the chase you can see that they were unfazed by the target and opposition. They played matured cricket and did kit look like a minnow at all.

Pak players on the other hand looked tired and bored. No one wanted to put their body on the line to stop the boundaries and bowling looked flat and lethargic. Nothing is working for Pakistan.

 

[Champ_Pal]

100%. We need to ask ourselves if merely playing in Pakistan can produce top-quality spin bowlers and dynamic batsmen, then how the hell have the Afghans managed it, but we haven't!

Pak spin attack has gone down the drain. Not one spinner in the squad looks international class.

 

[Snowflake]

It was a shocker, an upset, absolutely but I'm coming at it from a different perspective. This is about the state of our cricket rather than a shocking loss.

The loss to IRL was bad but there was a decent team in there.

This loss to AFG today feels like we are finished. We are struggling to bowl teams out, conceding 340, 380 and another 280 today (potential for more if we had scored more).

One of our fast bowlers is giving up 15 rpo like its fashionable.

Our spearhead is blunt, we don't have a frontline spinner - just bits and pieces spinners averaging about 35 with the ball and barely 20 with the bat. The team is getting old with little to no future "talent" emerging.

Only player that I enjoy watching is Abdullah Shafique. Rizwan and Babar are notable Pakistani players in the global game but aren't playing meaningful knocks.

In the Ireland game, as bad as it was, we had historically good players, greats of Pak cricket (Inzi, MoYo, YK, Azhar) and/or players that would go on to represent Pak with distinction like a young Gul, Hafeez (he tailed off but started decently for us and repped the country for many years).

This team... doesn't hold a candle to that team, even if the loss to IRL was embarrassing of the highest order. This team is devoid of quality.

I see your point. It’s valid.

I guess for me, knowing that our team sucks makes it less hurtful. What I saw in the Asia cup and then in the games vs India and Aus prepared me for this somewhat.

 

[imran1976]

On twitter, the phrase NamakHaram is trending by Pakistanis. Pathetic stuff from us....

Politics will be responded by politics, fair enough by us !

 

[GLORY OF '92]

If we are honest the score should really be 4/3 Afghanistan. We got lucky quite often.

I fear they will catch up fast and they seem to have far more talent coming through than us.

 

[rhony]

It appears Pakistan believed the rumor that this was going to be a raging turner. The approach of Abdullah and Babar seemed like they thought 250 was a good score on this pitch. Babar being more experienced should have understood the conditions. Afghanistan's batting was a revelation. They made 275 against a decent Indian attack too. I think the match was lost during the Pak batting middle overs.

 

[mominsaigol]

If we are honest the score should really be 4/3 Afghanistan. We got lucky quite often.

I fear they will catch up fast and they seem to have far more talent coming through than us.

They don't have more talent then us, they just actually play their talent and their management isn't brainless.

Their management tells them to attack the opposition and simply never back down from a fight. You could see their disappointment when they weren't able to chase the Sri lanka score down in time. The immense disappointment clearly showed how much the team loves cricket and plays for the nation. They pulled their heart strings out and no theirs no more farroqi to botch things for them .

They don't back down even if the team is light years ahead.

Yesterday's encounter reminded me of Ivan drago vs Apollo Creed. Apollo on paper may look like a world champ bur his mentality thay day was to show off to the crowd and act tough. Ivan drago was their to kill the guy.

This fight is literally Afghanistan being Ivan drago while babar and friends are just pretending to be tough with glorified ranks hence then celebrating hitting a 6 in the powerplay, like they had won the world cup

 

[mominsaigol]

It appears Pakistan believed the rumor that this was going to be a raging turner. The approach of Abdullah and Babar seemed like they thought 250 was a good score on this pitch. Babar being more experienced should have understood the conditions. Afghanistan's batting was a revelation. They made 275 against a decent Indian attack too. I think the match was lost during the Pak batting middle overs.

No it was a rank Turner and batting was difficult against spin.

The problem is our spinners can't spin . You can give someone the best conditons on the planet but it doesn't matter if the player itself can't actually do anything.

 

[ex-q-zit]

Are we out of the WC now? We could technically still make the semis if we win all of the remaining games right?

Good luck if you think this bunch can beat SA and NZ even if we consider they can beat bangladesh and England.

 

[ex-q-zit]

No it was a rank Turner and batting was difficult against spin.

The problem is our spinners can't spin . You can give someone the best conditons on the planet but it doesn't matter if the player itself can't actually do anything.

If it was a rank turner why didn't Rashid get even a single wicket and Mujeeb gave over 6 runs per over which made the captain only use 8 overs of his. It was not a rank turner. Pakistan were double bluffed. they propbably listened to their media which was crying over non-exixtent conspiracy theories and expected a rank turner. Therefore they palyes extra cautiously resulting in a below par score for that wicket. Moreover the wicket eases out under lights just like it did in IND vs AUS match.

 

[Wasim Ghulam]

Well congratulations to Afghanistan. They are a decent side but always reliant on their spinners to perform. Recently they have got good openers too. For all people that are saying Afghans had better of us in 7 of those matches.. and we just got lucky isnt true either.. Pakistan never faced them in conditions that does nt suit them. Chennai match was set up by bcci to give advantage to Afghans.. we went and played t20 series in Sharjah.. tht was nt enough and we went to play odis in lanka on spinning wickets.. i would really like to watch them play in Pakistan too. Only then we will gauge how good they are. Afghanistan gambled with 4th spinner and it paid off. Having never faced him before, Afg landed a surprise for us and timid as we have been in batting.. we went into shell on pitch where we could have scored 325 plus

 

[JaDed]

If we are honest the score should really be 4/3 Afghanistan. We got lucky quite often.

I fear they will catch up fast and they seem to have far more talent coming through than us.

More self belief and readiness to learn. It also helps they play IPL and are continuously improving.

 

[rpant_gabba]

On twitter, the phrase NamakHaram is trending by Pakistanis. Pathetic stuff from us....

PP should bring Namak Halal to counter it! What is latest handle? Was jeera blade.

 

[Wasim Ghulam]

problems for Pakistan
Mentally shot after sept 10 defeat. All our plans went into disarray for WC.. 228 runs defeat is what started downfall of otherwise decent attack or had been one
Mindset is too timid. There is no quick fix for this. Imam and Babar are prolific stat padders against B sides.. from 2019 to 2023 we did nt get to play top odi sides often. 2021 win in SA was against C grade african bowling attack. England gave us reality check with 3-0 pasting and they did nt even need their first choice.. then we had luck to play against C grade Australian side on Lahore Roads.. we managed 2-1 .. Babar and imam both inflated their averages against weak bowling.. then Netherlands almost won series against us.. we again got reality check against williamson's NZ in January when we were handed 2-1 defeat at home.. and we won in May against second choice NZ to give us false sense of progress. We did nt play enough against top sides in 4 years.. results are for everyone to see

 

[daytrader]

Afghanistan's greatest cricketing achievement. They raise their game when playing Pakistan and it was evident that they had plans for each of the players. The better team won today

 

[mominsaigol]

If it was a rank turner why didn't Rashid get even a single wicket and Mujeeb gave over 6 runs per over which made the captain only use 8 overs of his. It was not a rank turner. Pakistan were double bluffed. they propbably listened to their media which was crying over non-exixtent conspiracy theories and expected a rank turner. Therefore they palyes extra cautiously resulting in a below par score for that wicket. Moreover the wicket eases out under lights just like it did in IND vs AUS match.

Not getting a wicket doesn't mean it wasn't a rank Turner. Rashid was bowling well and so was mujeeb, it was hard to get them away. The bowler with the worst line and length (Noor ahmed) murdered us tonight.

The reality is that our spinners can't spin at all. Their just pretenders. Sheddy and nawaz haven't been spinning for ages. Usama doesn't spin either minus one delivery only that comes back in. He relies on bounce to get it done.

The class of afg spinners is >>>>>>>>>>>>> The class of Pakistan spinners that's all their to to it.

Their top order is superior to us, their spin department is superior to us and atm even their fast bowling department is superior to us. That's literally it.

Pakistani batsmen besides imam do try to attack, their just not talented enough to attack because babar can't escape his comfort zone, nor can rizzu or Abdullah.

 

[rhony]

No it was a rank Turner and batting was difficult against spin.

The problem is our spinners can't spin . You can give someone the best conditons on the planet but it doesn't matter if the player itself can't actually do anything.

Wasn't a rank turner by any means. There was a bit of turn. This looked like a 300 pitch. You can't score 300 on rank turners

 

[Major]

Wasn't a rank turner by any means. There was a bit of turn. This looked like a 300 pitch. You can't score 300 on rank turners

It was a turner. Issue was both sides had foolish captains.

Hashmat could have had pakistan stuck at 220 runs had he given a few overs to rehmat shah and allowed mujeeb to complete his qouta. From the 42 over he gave the ball to his oacers that were getting attacked.

Meanwhile our spinners had no spin cause they sucked. Shadab couldnt get any ball on the track and the commentators also kept mentiong that he is just throwing a full toss after a full toss.

Iftikhar was grtting massive turn, but our stupid captain thought that the guy with the most turn should only bowl 5 overs

 

[jusarrived]

none. Im happy for them, and you can be hurt about that if you want.

Im a fan of their cricket because i have been following their cricket from a young age. This team used to practise diving on a mattress and now look. I love the hard work these guys did. THey have no facility. Its a dream that is now a reality.

There is a documentary on Afghanistan cricket called " Rise of Afghanistan cricket" available on YouTube. It's a must watch. I remember seeing that Gulbadin guy in the video, such a character and every time saw him in Afg colors brought a smile on my face. Just amazing how far they have come in last decade. No one deserves the success more than these guys

 

[Major]

There is a documentary on Afghanistan cricket called " Rise of Afghanistan cricket" available on YouTube. It's a must watch. I remember seeing that Gulbadin guy in the video, such a character and every time saw him in Afg colors brought a smile on my face. Just amazing how far they have come in last decade. No one deserves the success more than these guys

yeh, i have watched it. Today we talk about Rashid Khan but there was a time when Hamid hassan was there star.

I am surprise how Nabi has adapted with the team as he grew up. I think in real age he must be 45+

 

[jusarrived]

yeh, i have watched it. Today we talk about Rashid Khan but there was a time when Hamid hassan was there star.

I am surprise how Nabi has adapted with the team as he grew up. I think in real age he must be 45+

Yup I remember Hamid hassan

Mad respect for Nabi, limited skills but great self belief. He also has the calming influence am sure has helped the team

 

[Savak]

If it was a rank turner why didn't Rashid get even a single wicket and Mujeeb gave over 6 runs per over which made the captain only use 8 overs of his. It was not a rank turner. Pakistan were double bluffed. they propbably listened to their media which was crying over non-exixtent conspiracy theories and expected a rank turner. Therefore they palyes extra cautiously resulting in a below par score for that wicket. Moreover the wicket eases out under lights just like it did in IND vs AUS match.

The defensive timid scared cannot afford to lose mindset is the problem. If as a team you are not scared to lose and instead your think I don't care about the pitch we are going to go out and play positive. We need an Eoin Morgan type captain ie if you want to play in my team, I want you to figure out how are you going to hit one boundary every over, how you do that is up to you but if you can't do that then you have no place in this team.

 

[kron]

100%. We need to ask ourselves if merely playing in Pakistan can produce top-quality spin bowlers and dynamic batsmen, then how the hell have the Afghans managed it, but we haven't!

They produce better spinners because they are more talented at producing such players.

 

[Savak]

problems for Pakistan
Mentally shot after sept 10 defeat. All our plans went into disarray for WC.. 228 runs defeat is what started downfall of otherwise decent attack or had been one
Mindset is too timid. There is no quick fix for this. Imam and Babar are prolific stat padders against B sides.. from 2019 to 2023 we did nt get to play top odi sides often. 2021 win in SA was against C grade african bowling attack. England gave us reality check with 3-0 pasting and they did nt even need their first choice.. then we had luck to play against C grade Australian side on Lahore Roads.. we managed 2-1 .. Babar and imam both inflated their averages against weak bowling.. then Netherlands almost won series against us.. we again got reality check against williamson's NZ in January when we were handed 2-1 defeat at home.. and we won in May against second choice NZ to give us false sense of progress. We did nt play enough against top sides in 4 years.. results are for everyone to see

PCB on average needs to arrange 10-12 test series and 20 ODIs against the top teams every year on average.

 

[Energy]

Afghanistan had a focused tunnel vision for this game. The venue was the same as their previous game so they were aware about the conditions and prepared specifically for it. Their team balance was very specific. The conditions were to their liking. It was their big game, so all the focus was on this one. It helped them in the end.

Pakistan will beat Afghanistan 9 out of 10 times on neutral venues.

 

[Dr_Bassim]

Afghanistan had a focused tunnel vision for this game. The venue was the same as their previous game so they were aware about the conditions and prepared specifically for it. Their team balance was very specific. The conditions were to their liking. It was their big game, so all the focus was on this one. It helped them in the end.

Pakistan will beat Afghanistan 9 out of 10 times on neutral venues.

Pakistan will lose with this bowling even on surface of Mars.

 

[Major]

Afghanistan had a focused tunnel vision for this game. The venue was the same as their previous game so they were aware about the conditions and prepared specifically for it. Their team balance was very specific. The conditions were to their liking. It was their big game, so all the focus was on this one. It helped them in the end.

Pakistan will beat Afghanistan 9 out of 10 times on neutral venues.

9/10 comment doesnt stand when we see the last few afghan pakistan games. Almost every game went down the wire, which is why Afghanistan did not try to go havoc and played a steady game in the run chae even after the 40th over.

As for the conditions thing, Pakistan had two games at hyderabad and yet they got smashed for 340+ runs.

The Afghan side is good and had spinners for this condition, while we did not.

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

A blessing in disguise, Afghanistan has done us a favour. Now that we’re out of the WC, hopefully we lose the rest of the games.

I’m actually looking forward to seeing our newly looking squad for ODI’s in 13 months time.

Get ready to welcome Waqar Younis back as a coach.

 

[hoshiarpurexpress]

I worry about the safety of

Law of averages was going to come into play at one point.

After 7 losses, the first O

PCB on average needs to arrange 10-12 test series and 20 ODIs against the top teams every year on average.

10-12 test series.. there is no money in it for PCB. So it is not happening. 20 ODIs against top teams is a dream as well because of the priority to the leagues.

 

[Rana]

I honestly thought Rehmat Shah and Shahidi are useless middle order players

They had the game of their lifetime!

Congratulations to them

 

[FearlessRoar]

In a recent interview Gautam has shared his insights.

"We have spoken about this in the Asia Cup as well - Pakistan's fielding. You can have a bad day in bowling or batting, but not in fielding. This has been going on since the Asia Cup and the department has still not improved. I believe Pakistan are the most ordinary fielding team in this World Cup," Gautam said.

"They are struggling in spin bowling. On this wicket, where there was no dew and there was help for the spinners, none of the three spinners could pick up a single wicket. That is the second concern," he said.

"The third concern is Pakistan's batting. Pakistan's top five batters are similar types of batters. They don't have a batter apart from Iftikhar Ahmed who can take the game head-on," Gambhir said.

"Cricket has moved on. Cricket is not the same as it was in the 1990s or 2011, where you score 270 or 280 runs and think that your bowling will defend that. Two new balls, flat wickets, five fielders within the circle, you will have to play proactive and attacking cricket," he concluded

 

[Mp812]

Let's be honest, this has been coming for a long time. Pakistan has been riding its luck against Afghanistan for years but that luck finally ran out.

Afghanistan have lost 4-5 nail-biters to Pakistan in this format and they outplayed Pakistan on all those occasions but didn't have that extra bit of luck in key moments.

I think it was Asia cup 2018. Shoaib Malik bailed Pakistan out. Then once again it was Asif sixes.
Then Naseem twice in last 2 years. Just about scraped through.
Afghanistan has been running close to Pakistan and only individual performance postponed Afghanistan's eventual first victory to after 8 games.
Now Afghanistan has claimed their first victory in must win game for Pakistan in World cup. They have not just claimed their first victory but severely dented Pakistan's SF chances.

What was impressive was Afghanistan cruised through with no maniac batting involved. At no stage did it feel Afghanistan was playing nor needed to play risky strokes.

Jadeja and Trott have been coaching them well

 

[RyanRyan10]

I think it was Asia cup 2018. Shoaib Malik bailed Pakistan out. Then once again it was Asif sixes.
Then Naseem twice in last 2 years. Just about scraped through.
Afghanistan has been running close to Pakistan and only individual performance postponed Afghanistan's eventual first victory to after 8 games.
Now Afghanistan has claimed their first victory in must win game for Pakistan in World cup. They have not just claimed their first victory but severely dented Pakistan's SF chances.

What was impressive was Afghanistan cruised through with no maniac batting involved. At no stage did it feel Afghanistan was playing nor needed to play risky strokes.

Jadeja and Trott have been coaching them well

Asif Ali's 6s came in t20 WC

One of 2 matches Naseem won was in the Asia Cup t20

 

[Kianig89]

Basit Ali Rashid Latif were fuming about yesterday loss, these two are the Columbus of AFG cricket

 

[Major]

In a recent interview Gautam has shared his insights.

"We have spoken about this in the Asia Cup as well - Pakistan's fielding. You can have a bad day in bowling or batting, but not in fielding. This has been going on since the Asia Cup and the department has still not improved. I believe Pakistan are the most ordinary fielding team in this World Cup," Gautam said.

"They are struggling in spin bowling. On this wicket, where there was no dew and there was help for the spinners, none of the three spinners could pick up a single wicket. That is the second concern," he said.

"The third concern is Pakistan's batting. Pakistan's top five batters are similar types of batters. They don't have a batter apart from Iftikhar Ahmed who can take the game head-on," Gambhir said.

"Cricket has moved on. Cricket is not the same as it was in the 1990s or 2011, where you score 270 or 280 runs and think that your bowling will defend that. Two new balls, flat wickets, five fielders within the circle, you will have to play proactive and attacking cricket," he concluded

280 is defendable with a good bowling attack.

 

[mazkhan]

I'm now waiting for the icing on the cake some chitrol from the bengalis .

 

[FearlessRoar]

Legendary Pakistan fast bowler Waqar Younis was extremely critical of the Babar Azam-led side following their shock defeat against Afghanistan in the Cricket World Cup 2023 on Monday.

Pakistan were completely outplayed by Afghanistan with fans and experts slamming their disappointing fielding effort.

Following the match, Waqar said that Pakistan played 'rubbish cricket' against Afghanistan and slammed their multiple mistakes while fielding. "Let's not talk about Pakistan cricket. They played rubbish cricket. Afghanistan played some superb cricket," Waqar said on Star Sports.

Afghanistan put on a superb batting and bowling display to hand Pakistan a stunning eight-wicket defeat in the Cricket World Cup 2023.

Chasing a 283-run target, Afghanistan were lifted by Ibrahim Zadran (87), Rahmat Shah (77 not out) and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (65) as they scored 286-2 in 49 overs.

Pakistan had made 282-7 in their 50 overs with 74 from skipper Babar Azam and 58 from opener Abdullah Shafique but the total did not prove tough enough for a clinical Afghanistan.

Skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi, with a 45-ball 48 not out, hit the winning boundary as Afghanistan improved upon their highest ODI chase of 274 against the UAE in Dubai in 2014.

The win is Afghanistan's first-ever over Pakistan in eight ODIs and came eight days after their shock victory over defending champions England in Delhi.

"This win tastes nice," said Shahidi. "The way we chased was very professional and the way we did that will help us going into our other games now.

"We are playing quality cricket. We have always had belief and at the start of the tournament I told my team I wanted to make it a historic one for our country and our people. We did that against England and now today against Pakistan."

The defeat leaves Pakistan's World Cup campaign in disarray with three defeats in five games and a formidable South Africa to face at the same venue on Friday.

In contrast, Afghanistan's campaign is slightly revived with two wins in five matches and struggling Sri Lanka as their next opponents in Pune on Sunday.

"That really hurt us. We got a good total. Our bowling is not up to the mark," Babar said.

Source: NDTV

 

[Saj]

"The third concern is Pakistan's batting. Pakistan's top five batters are similar types of batters. They don't have a batter apart from Iftikhar Ahmed who can take the game head-on," Gambhir said.

"Cricket has moved on. Cricket is not the same as it was in the 1990s or 2011, where you score 270 or 280 runs and think that your bowling will defend that. Two new balls, flat wickets, five fielders within the circle, you will have to play proactive and attacking cricket," he concluded

Exactly what I have been saying.

Our guys still think 270 or 280 is enough on the grounds and surfaces in India, when other teams are easily reaching 350 or more.

These guys need to wake up, change their approach.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

280 is defendable with a good bowling attack.

not here on these sort of pitches where average score is more than 300.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi on Wednesday commented on the growing intense rivalry between Pakistan and Afghanistan:

“Back home, people were very happy. If you look at previous World Cups, the Asia Cup, and series against Pakistan, we came very close but didn’t win. The 2019 World Cup match was in our hands but slipped away, and in the 2022 Asia Cup, we faced heartbreak when Fazal Haq got hit for two sixes by Naseem Shah. We had lost almost eight matches that we were winning,”

“When we got the opportunity, I was lucky to lead the team, and I finished the match. After winning, it felt great; I couldn’t sleep the whole night out of happiness.”

“Both wins were important, but the victory over Pakistan in the ODI World Cup was monumental; people were incredibly happy.”