12th Match - Afghanistan v Sri Lanka

[Athlai]

was a bit strange bringing on Shapoor and then Dawlat ahead of keeping Hamid going when he was bowling well. Mirwais as well

Thats the issue when you bring on your strike bowler in the middle overs, they may buy you a wicket but you need someone to bowl an over at the death.

There was nothing wrong with Hamid's use in the death. Perera was jammy and they weren't defending an incredible amount of runs. I don't personally rate the Afghani death bowlers but that wasn't the issue today.

 

[OverratedSanity]

there was an over to go FFS.

He's right though...Mirwais bowling that over was silly. By the time hamid came back the game was done.

 

[cnerd123]

Should have bowled out the quicks and look to get into SL's tail before the 40th over IMO.

 

[anil1405]

Well fought Afghanistan. Am sure they had so much to learn today in terms of what it takes to win against a top team.

 

[viriya]

Well fought Afghanistan. Am sure they had so much to learn today in terms of what it takes to win against a top team.

I feel like they just need a reliable batting star or two like Ireland does to consistently be a threat.

 

[Athlai]

Lets not pretend Jayawardene got out to good fast bowling. He got out to a stupid shot after a milestone and Afghanistan's quicks hadn't looked likely since their opening spell. The state of the game at the 40th over and 41st over was remarkably different. And at that time Hamid had 3 overs left.

Mirwais did fine. It was just Perera's day. If they managed to take his wicket in those last 3 or so overs then you'd have been in an uproar if Hamid wasn't bowling the last over to Jeevan and the spuds.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Lets not pretend Jayawardene got out to good fast bowling. He got out to a stupid shot after a milestone and Afghanistan's quicks hadn't looked likely since their opening spell. The state of the game at the 40th over and 41st over was remarkably different. And at that time Hamid had 3 overs left.

Mirwais did fine. It was just Perera's day. If they managed to take his wicket in those last 3 or so overs then you'd have been in an uproar if Hamid wasn't bowling the last over to Jeevan and the spuds.

lol no

 

[kiwiviktor81]

Afghanistan vs. England is going to be as interesting as Scotland vs. England.

 

[BeeGee]

Those who think Thisara is insanely lucky in this innings haven't seen him bat before. Whenever he makes 20+ he's insanely lucky.

So you haven't seen him bat before.

 

[Riggins]

Poor controllables from the Afghani's at the end. A good showing nonetheless.

 

[hendrix]

Up there with Eden Park 2014 vs India as the best day of cricket I've ever been to.

The only thing that annoyed me was the captaincy. One of Hamid, Shapoor or Dawlat should have bowled out early before the spinners came on. With 3 excellent fast bowlers there's no need to save them all for the end.

That's an experience thing but I also think it's something the coach should have asked for. It's hard for me to comment on a coach as you never know what actually goes on behind the scenes, but Moles has had at least 2 occasions of players asking for him to be replaced because of incompetence. Again I'm not sure if that's the case here but I just never have heard anything convincing from him.

 

[Migara]

Embarassing victory.

 

[anil1405]

Could Moles be the reason why Ghani is not playing?

 

[hendrix]

Could Moles be the reason why Ghani is not playing?

I'm not sure but it's a big mistake. The guy is a genuine quality batsman who'd gain so much from this experience.

The other comment:
Afsar Zazai, apart from being an excellent wicket keeper, is pure cake. BJ Watling cake. He needs to be batting ahead of Najibullah at the very least, and probably Nabi too. It would have been much better to have him nurdle a slow-ish 25 runs and then have Nabi and Najibullah given pure license to do their thing.

Moles himself knows Najibullah is a pure slogger so I can't understand why Zazai didn't bat ahead of him.

 

[Maximas]

Was gonna boycott the Bangladesh game if we'd lost this, interesting to note it was the pace attack and lower middle order that delivered victory in the end

 

[hendrix]

Was gonna boycott the Bangladesh game if we'd lost this,

Uh, why? Afghanistan genuinely played well. It was a great game.

 

[SkyBlue]

Reducing the no.of teams in the next edition is more and more looking like a dumbass decision by the ICC..

Alas,there's still time to reverse the decision anyway.

 

[Sarun]

J Mendis is pretty much being carried as he hasn't gotten/is not given much opportunity to bowl or bat a lot.

Reducing the no.of teams in the next edition is more and more looking like a dumbass decision by the ICC..

Alas,there's still time to reverse the decision anyway.

I believe they changed to 14 teams (from 10 team like in 2019) for this WC after (or during) 2011 WC.

 

[Burgey]

I have to say I've seriously enjoyed watching Afghanistan this WC. Today they were impressive but just couldn't finish off their batting innings after a good start, and that cost them the game. Their bowling is, for the most part, damn impressive and I think the best I've see from a non-test playing country in ages, if not ever.

 

[Migara]

Was gonna boycott the Bangladesh game if we'd lost this, interesting to note it was the pace attack and lower middle order that delivered victory in the end

That is because no spin "attack" is selected and people should be at the top are pushed at the middle order. Mahela and Dilshan to open, Sanga at three and Mathews at four is the ideal, but the rest is so much poo, that MJ and Mathews have to bat lower down.