MATCH STORY
Follow UsAfghanistan’s bowling has always revolved around their spinners, with fast bowlers often taking a back seat in the past, but things have started to change in the last year or two. Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Mohammad Nabi and Noor Ahmad are world-class spinners, however, Afghanistan now also possess a pace unit that can take down any opponent on their day.
7/20 in nine overs - this is what the troika of Fazalhaq Farooqi (5/9), Naveen-ul-Haq (2/4) and Azmatullah Omarzai (0/7) did in Afghanistan’s opening fixture of the 2024 T20 World Cup against Uganda on June 3 (Monday). Now, one can always speak about the quality of Uganda's batters, but that is not something any bowler can control.
Afghanistan stepped out at the Providence Stadium with one straightforward goal - to get those two points and get them with a big margin that would boost their Net Run-Rate. Thanks to Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran’s 154-run opening partnership, Afghanistan posted a total of 183. Everyone expected Uganda to put up some sort of a fight in the second innings but that dream died in the first three deliveries of the second innings.
Uganda opener Ronak Patel said hello to Farooqi with a crisp cover drive but the left-arm seamer got his revenge on the very next ball. What Ruben Trumpelmann did to Oman’s Kashyap Prajapati and Aqib Ilyas on June 2 is exactly what Farooqi did to Ronak and Roger Mukasa. The left-armer got a couple to come back in from the full length and sent the two aforementioned batters back in the hut in no time.
While Ronak lost his leg stump, Mukasa couldn’t get his leg out of the way and was pinned right in front of the stumps. Those two inswinging deliveries could have troubled any batter, let alone someone from an associate nation. The Uganda batters looked completely clueless against Farooqi and once Naveen came into the attack in the fifth over, things got bad to worse for the Men in Yellow who were playing their first World Cup game.
Naveen, who is known for his change-up deliveries, also started his spell in a commanding fashion. The right-arm fast bowler got Dinesh Nakrani to drag one back onto the stumps before getting Alpesh Ramjani caught at first slip. And just like that, Afghanistan reduced Uganda to 18/5 by the end of five overs.
The game was very much over by the time Azmatullah Omarzai came into the attack. The fast-bowling all-rounder can move the ball and is used to bowling in the first six overs. Omarzai didn’t get a wicket but never allowed Riazat Ali Shah and Robinson Obuya to look comfortable. He bowled with tremendous control and as a result, Riazat took 34 deliveries for his 11 runs. He went at a strike rate of 32.35 - the lowest in a T20 WC innings (30+ balls faced).
Rashid and Mujeeb were still doing their thing but couldn’t dismiss Riazat and Obuya. That’s when Rashid said enough is enough and brought back Farooqi into the attack. And guess what? The left-armer knocked over Riazat with a cutter and then had Brian Masaba caught behind to once again put himself in a position to claim a hat-trick. That didn’t happen but Farooqi got rid of Obuya in the same over to complete his five-wicket haul.
Rashid took the last two wickets but it was Farooqi who rightly stole all the limelight. He not only became the fourth left-armer in T20 WC history to pick a five-wicket haul but also registered the fourth-best figures in the tournament’s history. Second-best figures if we are talking about just seamers after Umar Gul’s 5/6 against New Zealand in 2009.
Uganda were eventually bowled out for 58 in 16 overs - the fourth-lowest total in T20 WC history. In this match, Afghanistan pacers' operated at a collective economy rate of just 2.5 - the best ER for a fast bowling unit in a T20 WC encounter.
Speaking about Farooqi, Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott said: “Looks like he's worked really hard in his game. Very pleased for him today with the way that he was able to bowl. Stuck to his plans and showed his skill that he is able to swing the ball and take wickets early. That always creates trouble for the opposition and gets us going in the right direction.”
There might not have been enough quality in the Uganda batting line-up but Afghanistan’s pace unit has been moving in the right direction, especially since 2021. From 2016 to 2020, the Afghanistan fast bowlers operated at an average of 28 and an economy rate of 8.5, which has dropped to 22.4 and 8.1 respectively since 2021. And Farooqi, Naveen and Omarzai have played a massive role in this rise.
In this period, these three seamers are among the top five wicket-takers for Afghanistan alongside Rashid and Mujeeb. Farooqi, in particular, has been gold dust for Afghanistan. Among pacers from the top-10 nations who have picked up at least 30 wickets since 2022, Farooqi has the best economy rate (6.6) and second-best dot-ball percentage (49.7%) despite bowling across all three phases of the game.
Afghanistan had it a bit easy against Uganda but have big teams like New Zealand and West Indies in their group. Afghanistan are still a spin-heavy unit but skipper Rashid would know that they don’t have to do everything. In Farooqi, Naveen and Omarzai, Afghanistan have a pace attack that can win them games, just as they did against Uganda. What’s more, the sluggish surfaces in the Caribbean will only make them stronger.
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