Oman has made good use of the T20 series ahead of their Asian Qualifier to be staged in Nepal. They have already clinched the series by winning all the three matches with two more games to go. On the other hand, it was an opportunity for some of the fringe Afghan players to put their candidature ahead for the national side. Sadly none of them have been impressive apart from Atal who played his first game yesterday.
Ill disciplined effort by the bowlers
Oman is a very seasoned team. Most of their players have played domestic cricket in other countries and are representing the Oman national team for quite some time. The kind of homework that the Afghan team needed was completely missing from the boys. Omani fast bowlers are not only experienced but also have good skills. Most of the time they stick to their field as well as their lines. On the contrary Afghan bowlers are wayward and random in their disciplines. Neither they bowl to their field consistently nor do they maintain fairly tight lengths.
Zahir clubbed for four sixes in an over
Saleem Safi and Zahir Khan were severely dealt with because of their poor execution. It seems that they seldom study the opposition batter’s with their video analyst. Aquib Ilyas smacked Zahir for offering four juicy deliveries as fodder to hit four sixes in an over. This left arm wrist spinner has been playing in the Afghanistan circuit for more than a decade now but still hasn’t found an ounce of discipline which is sad and at the same time very frustrating. Ten years is a lot of time to grow and develop but Zahir has not progressed at all. Hence he is getting far behind from the rest with each passing day.
Uncontrolled aggression without homework undermines the bowling
Aggression is not the only weapon a fast bowler should possess. There has to be some astute smartness with which a pacer needs to operate. Saleem Safi unfortunately doesn’t have that control at this point. Besides, his fielding is not that great. He tries to bowl fast, loses the channel and goes for runs. Yes, this occasionally fetches him some random wickets but that’s not enough. There is a spongy kind of bounce at the Oman cricket academy. Rather than bowling quick, maintaining a good channel is a better option with intermittent disguised variations. But neither the coaching staff nor the players have paid any attention to this. Their cricket is still based on Kachaghari school of thoughts which is why they look clueless when the opposition does a better job.
Hazrat needs to be dropped owing to clueless form and fitness
Although they brought three changes to their side but had kept their most favorite card, Hazratullah Zazai still inside the eleven. He never looked comfortable at the crease. Consumed 12 deliveries to crawl to an innings of 3 runs. If we look back at his last 10 or even 20 innings, it will reflect how badly he has performed consistently but strangely getting these free lunches like lotteries on virtually every tour. No matter how much the selectors and officials try to paint a fair image, they’re indirectly carrying out these undue selections regularly. It’s an open secret now that Hazratullah doesn’t deserve to be on any kind of Afghanistan side at this present form and fitness level.
Shahid Kamal doesn’t have a power game essentially required in T20s
On the other hand, Shahid Kamal has proved that he doesn’t have a power game. He waits for bowlers to make mistakes rather than creating opportunities for himself. The way Afghanistan lost their chase in the last couple of overs attributes to this lackluster purposeless batting approach. The bowlers were allowed to bowl wide yorkers and there was never an intent to play the lap shot which is atrocious. The only thing they were doing was to swing it hard without moving their feets to create angles. This is an elementary approach in the white ball cricket which was not paid enough attention. The competency of the coaching staff can also be put under the scanner over such a below par performance.
Sediq Atal justifies his selection with a productive 41
The only positive came through the bat of Sediq Atal who played some clean strokes at the top to score 41 from 28 balls loaded with three sixes and a couple of boundaries. Hadn’t Hazrat wasted so many balls in the power play and then later on Shahzad who converted so many doubles into singles, perhaps the result of the game could have gone in Afghanistan’s favor. Two more games are still left in the series. Afghanistan must try to salvage some pride in those in otherwise a lost battle.