Cricket World Cup: Their semifinal hopes all but over, revelations Afghanan aim to bow out on a high against South Africa | Cricket-world-cup News

Inadvertently, Hashmatullah Shahidi called it a ‘win’.The Afghanan captain quickly corrected himself. But the tiny slip allowed a peek into the mind of a player clearly hurting after the unbelievable loss to Australia on Tuesday.
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“That win was…” Shahidi said, paused and smiled before having another go. “That loss,” he began again, stressing on the outcome, “was hurting. We were not expecting it. They were seven down!… But that’s part of cricket. Part of life.”
Of course, it will take a while for the defeat – that all but killed Afghanan’s chances of qualifying for the semifinals – to sink in. But when it eventually does, when Afghanan’s players go home, take a winter break, put their feet up and look back at the last five weeks, they will be proud of what they have achieved.

Unless the cricketing Gods connive to set up the most improbable scenario, so that Afghanan leapfrog Pakan and New Zealand to finish fourth, Friday might be the last time they feature in this World Cup.
And whatever the outcome against the semifinal-bound South Africa, it’s been a campaign that has unmakable shades of Morocco at Qatar 2022.
Unlike Morocco, Afghanan will not reach the semifinals. Like the African underdogs, though, the battle-hardened players from a country that’s ravaged after decades of man-made and natural horrors, have shown nothing is beyond the realms of possibility.

Like Morocco, Afghanan made everyone believe in the eternal magic of the World Cup. The country that started playing cricket just 20 years ago broke away from the traditional, decades-old storylines, humiliated world champions and while doing all that, in the words of coach Jonathan Trott, inspired a ‘generation of players to pick up a cricket bat and a cricket ball.’
Afghanan have been, to borrow the reference Morocco coach Walid Regrarui used to describe his team, the Rocky Balboa of this World Cup. Revelling in the underdog role, they have taken down three world champions and very nearly pinned another.

Multiple storylines can now unfold in the tournament’s final week. India can remain unbeaten and annihilate all their opponents to win the World Cup for the third time, thus blending their off-field power with on-field dominance. Who wouldn’t mind if the good guys of world cricket, New Zealand, finally finish first? Or even if South Africa, after years of heartbreak, at last win a major title? Maybe Australia reclaim the crown they surrendered to arch rivals England four years ago and reassert their dominance.
Making a big splash
Whichever narrative is engineered, this – at some level – will always be Afghanan’s World Cup.
They have inspired the associate nations. “If you look at someone like Afghanan,” the Netherlands’ Tejas Nidamanuru said, “they’ve been at the last three World Cups… didn’t win a game (last time) and they won one in 2015. Look at what they’re able to achieve!”

They have made the big boys sit up and take notice. “It’s been good to watch the Afghanan group going the way that they have, with the spinners that they’ve got, the batters up front, they’ve done really well,” South Africa’s David Miller said. “That’s the joys of the World Cup. You see different teams doing well. So, it’s great to see. Good for cricket.”
The other day, Steve Smith sounded excited to see what more Afghanan had to offer, particularly their ‘smart’ spinners. Indeed, 12 out of the 15 men in Afghanan’s squad are under 30 and 11 are below the age of 25, signalling a promising future.Most Read
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That they were within sniffing dance of a fifth win, which would have kept them in contention for the semifinals, but couldn’t close out the match against Australia, offers lessons. The biggest of them, Trott pointed out, was “just how cut-throat cricket is at the highest level and how you need to be on your game, not for, you know, 70 overs, but for 100 overs. especially at the highest level of the game.”

Whether 50-over cricket survives long enough for Afghanan to implement their learnings from this World Cup remains to be seen. Shahidi certainly hoped the ICC would ‘make a good call on it’ because ‘50 overs and Test cricket is more important’.

But at this moment, on the eve of what is likely to be his team’s final match of the World Cup, he was left feeling bittersweet. “We feel proud. We feel happy with what we have done at this World Cup. But I expected more. Beating Australia would have been a good achievement. Now, we have one game left and if we finish that well, we still have a chance for the semifinals.”
It’s not much of a chance; perhaps less than what England had after six losses. Then again, going out without a fight would be the most un-Afghan thing to do.