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It was by far the best match of the Asia Cup 2023. In a high-octane run chase at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, Afghanistan batters gave everything in the middle but in the end confusion about the equation left them dejected and knocked out of the tournament.
It seemed Afghan batters had watched the videos of Virat Kohli from the epic Hobart run chase before walking out to bat. In the latter stages of the game, it reminded many of the Indian Premier League (IPL) clash between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) clash. In the end, it turned out to be a reminder of Mark Boucher defending a ball against Sri Lanka in the 2003 World Cup.
After seven wickets fell, Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman needed 15 runs from seven balls. Rashid took the responsibility to finish it off in Dunith Wellalage’s over. Afghanistan needed to chase down 292 from 37.1 overs. In the 37th over, Rashid denied singles to Mujeeb who smashed a 25-ball half-century against Pakistan. However, he succeeded in hitting three fours.
In the 37th over, the equation boiled down to three runs from one ball. Mujeeb went for the glory shot against Dhananjaya de Silva but got caught well inside the boundary. As Mujeeb departed, Rashid looked dejected as he felt Afghanistan’s chances of progressing in the tournament were over but it wasn’t the case.
When Fazalhaq Farooqi walked out to bat, Afghanistan still had a chance to qualify. They needed a six in the next three balls. But from the way Farooqi played the first ball, it looked like he did not know about the equation. He defended a loopy full toss. He followed it up with another defensive shot with no intention of taking a single. It looked like even the dressing room did not know about it either as there were no animated signals to convey the message to Rashid. As a result, on the third ball, he got out lbw and Afghanistan lost the match by two runs.
The lack of information was clear as Rashid did not even try to talk to the tailender and ask him to take a quick single. Despite a spirited run chase loaded with cameos and Mohammad Nabi’s record-breaking half-century, Afghanistan lost the match and messed up their qualifying chances by the barest of margins.
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