England vs Afghanistan – Quick flicks of the day

Luke Wright became the highest scorer for England in a T20 match

Afghans have sparked ephemerally and now they are back packing their bags. Their loss to England by a huge margin of 116 runs has ensured that they bid adieu to the competition rather disappointingly. The promise they had shown against India in their previous match was nowhere in view, and it will take a lot for the Afghans to organise themselves together for whenever they play their next international match.

Luke Wright became the highest scorer for England in a T20 match with his unbeaten 99, beating previous record-holder Kevin Pietersen. In a lop-sided contest there wasn’t much to write about. Here are a few moments which kept us engaged on this dull day:

Zardan provides early hope

After earning accolades for this pace and accuracy in the early stages of the previous match, Zardan showed us he is no fluke.

Opening the bowling for his team, his first five deliveries went without a run being conceded. Clearly, pressure was building up on the other end and Craig Kieswetter, the flamboyant keeper and opener for England, lost his concentration while negotiating a delivery that had bounced a bit off the surface. Unfortunately for him, he misjudged the pace completely. We saw the ball kiss the bails, Zardan emphatic again. He has three wickets from two matches in this year’s WorldT20. Sadly, we won’t see the Shoaib dance again.

All Hales, then loses brake

England recuperated well after Kieswetter’s dismissal and started looking like we might not see another wicket fall during their innings. Luke Wright and Alex Hales took their team to 69 off 9 overs, and both were playing equally aggressive cricket when heartbreak happened.

On the first ball of Karim Sadiq’s over, Luke Wright drove back powerfully towards the bowler. The ball and Sadiq’s fingers met, and poor Hales at the non-striker’s end, settled at 31 off 27 balls, could only stand and stare befuddled. Such run-outs happen often, but still whenever they occur they leave us with a sour aftertaste.

Afghans continue to spill simple chances

Butter fingers, ghee legs, no one says cheese

Seeing Afghanistan play makes Indians feel at home in many ways, more on that later, but their fielding especially reminds my roommate of the character of Bagha from the Bollywood movie Lagaan.

After spilling four catches in their previous match, one must have thought that they have learnt some lessons. But they defy all conventions. Simple catches that one could hold even in their sleep were spilled by the Afghans all around the field today. Add to that their poor ground fielding and you almost want to turn into Jade ‘Dirtbag’ or Virat Kohli.

Jonny bares, we bow

The redhead English cricketer is already quite famous in the county circle. He has proved his potential as an international batsman with 95 run innings in a Test match against South Africa, coming in as last moment replacement for the mighty Kevin Pietersen.

After playing a selfless role in his five ball strike in a 35 runs partnership with Luke Wright, Johnny boy taught a spectacular practical lesson to the Afghans in the field.

Afghan batsman Ahghar Stanikzai uncomfortably hooked a short-pitched delivery from Stuart Broad and for a moment it looked Bairstow might just fall inches behind catching it. But he managed to hang on to it athletically and made us believe in fielding again.

Naib’s face-saving assault

Afghanistan’s number eight batsman Gulbodin Naib saved his team from the humiliation of being the lowest scorer in WorldT20. The team that was at one point reeling at 26/8, were 70/9 by the time the next wicket fell.

Naib’s 44 off 32 balls accounted for more than 50 percent of the runs scored by his team. The second highest scorer was Shapoor Zardan with 9 runs.

That Urdu word and some Pashto lost in translation

It is ironical how Afghanistan’s last batsman’s name is Izzatullah Dawlatzai. The word Izzat, the shortened form of his name, appears on the back of his jersey. “Izzat” means honour in Urdu and Dawlat pronounced as daulat translates to money in the same language.

Former English captain and now a TV presenter and commentator Nasser Hussain was conducting the first post-match interview. The Afghan captain Nowroz Mangal who talks in Pashto and uses an interpreter for the non-Pashto speaking audience to understand, was asked a few questions to which he replied in his native tongue. Hussain totally forgot to hand over the microphone to the interpreter for the first few questions and Mangal’s words were left to our imagination.