Afghanistan have hit a bump on their happy road

Against Australia, Gulbadin and Najibullah Zadran put on 83, then both were out in the same over. In the New Zealand match they were 66 for 0, then 66 for 3, before moving to 70 for 4. They found their way to 69 for 2 in the South Africa game, and then 77 for 7. In the West Indies game they were 189 for 2, and then lost two wickets in an over and another one within 14 balls. Coming into their final game their two highest run scorers were Hashmatullah Shahidi and Najibullah, and both have been dropped during the tournament. Gulbadin has opened, and batted at five, six and eight. Ikram Alikhil has batted at nine and first drop. That’s their batting.The Sri Lanka loss was cemented in the first five overs. Afghanistan won the toss on a seaming pitch and bowled as badly as they could. Sri Lanka made 52 in those five overs, 25% of their total. Hamid Hassan bowled poorly. He was the big gamble on his return. In the World Cup he bowled 26 overs in five games, taking one wicket. That’s their former hero.ALSO READ: Bruised but not broken, Hamid Hassan is ready for one final rideWhen Shahzad was sent home, Afghanistan brought in Ikram as their new keeper. They batted him at nine. So it meant that to replace Shahzad they had to bring in a batsman as well. That ruined their balance. Often they looked a genuine batsman short and a front-line bowler light. That’s their balance.It wasn’t until they played India that their line-up looked strong again, and that was because the pitch helped their spinners, so all their other problems fell away. They didn’t quite get there against India, and Bangladesh slightly outclassed them, but they were in games.And then there was Pakistan. Afghanistan were scrappy against them in a way they often aren’t. They have spent so long beating less gifted sides that they often play like the primary-school bully who has arrived in high school. Against Pakistan they manufactured a total on a tricky wicket by adding up all their 20s, 30s and 40-odds to 227 for 9. Their fingerspinners were incredible – Mujeeb at the top, Nabi in the middle – and they dotted up Pakistan. Their bowlers didn’t run through, but sat and waited for mistakes, and Pakistan made a few. With five overs remaining Pakistan needed 46 runs with four wickets in hand.This was Afghanistan’s big chance. Their gamble on Hamid hadn’t worked, Rashid Khan was bowling okay but he wasn’t the venomous force they wanted, and they had to make a choice on which bowler would join Mujeeb and Rashid at the end.The obvious pick was Samiullah Shinwari, who had stepped up for the crocked Hamid with eight overs for 32 runs. But Gulbadin wanted a seamer, and there was only one left: himself. Talking to Sharda Ugra during this tournament, Gulbadin said, “If you had told me I would be the Afghanistan captain, I would never have believed it.”No one can, even now. At his first press conference the ICC – as Afghanistan had no press officer – had to tell the journalists that he would not be answering questions about captaincy. Maybe even he didn’t have the answer to why he was in charge.Gulbadin is a trier. He truly believes that if he just tries that little bit harder, there is nothing he can’t do. He’s hard to not enjoy, especially when he poses after wickets or laughs along in press conferences. But at this point in his career, he is not a tactical captain, not even a work-experience one.Gulbadin Naib is enjoyable to watch, but not quite up to scratch as a captain•Getty ImagesWhen a player was hit earlier in the tournament, Gulbadin talked about how Afghan men could take a hit on the head. He believes that he is part of a special, almost superhuman race of people, that he has the magic Afghan strength, so there is nothing he can’t do.But there are lots of things he can’t do. He is not an opening batsman, based on his weird swipe against West Indies, and he is not a death bowler, based on the many balls he has bowled at the death that have been hit. Yet, like a club-cricket captain who slightly misjudges his own talent, he has been both in this tournament.So he did what he wanted to do since Afghanistan were an Associate battler and he was the tragicomic figure in the documentary – be the man to win a World Cup game for his people.It didn’t matter that his figures were 0 for 47 from eight at that point. This was hero time, and he is a hero.Gulbadin bowled a full toss, a long hop, had a mishit almost hit a fielder who couldn’t find it, and his over went for 18. But Afghanistan fought back. There was a run-out, Mujeeb bowled an over that should be hung in a gallery, and with six balls to go and six runs to get, the obvious choice was to go back to Shinwari. But there was only ever one man who would bowl this over.Gulbadin came back on with all his limitations and limitless confidence. He said, “You will with the mind or play with the heart.” No one wills like him or has his heart. But at the death his economy is 9.6 an over, and in this tournament no other bowler has delivered as many runs from balls that batsmen are in control of, and he bowls the kind of medium pace that even tailenders could never fear. His over only lasted four deliveries. A full toss, a lucky one off the pad down leg, then a decent full and wide one, and another full toss. It was filth – last-over, match-losing filth.His return spell had fielding errors, bowling dross, awful tactics, injuries, and players not quite good enough. That is Afghanistan in this moment, and of this tournament. That’s their captain.Of Afghanistan’s four best seam bowlers since the last World Cup, only Dawlat Zadran has seen this tournament through•IDI via Getty ImagesTo put a professional sporting structure in place in a country still rebuilding after war is almost impossible. There are also basic cricket problems. Afghanistan have built a frankly ridiculous list of spinning talent. Qais Ahmed, Zahir Khan and Waqar Salamkheil would be in most squads this tournament, and a few starting XIs as well. But behind the spin a lot is lacking.Afghanistan does not have a lot of international-quality batting. They have some incredible hitting, and decent all-round options, or – as someone may have suggested – a team of No. 8s, but they don’t have players who can make hundreds. Their players who have the talent to bat long innings do it at a strike rate of around 65, and they don’t even have many of them. This tournament, five players have opened the batting for Afghanistan.

When qualifying for this World Cup they mostly played in Asian conditions or on slower pitches, like in Zimbabwe. When the ball darted around in Cardiff, they struggled. And even when they play in bowler-friendly conditions, it isn’t against high-quality opposition. There are some good bowlers in the lower regions of cricket, but none are Lasith Malinga or Mitchell Starc. Before the last World Cup, the ICC sent the Associates out to acclimatise in the conditions of Australia and New Zealand. And the qualifying tournament was in New Zealand. They did these things to ensure all teams were as competitive as they could be. This time they did neither.Also, by playing on those slower pitches, Afghanistan can get away with three or four killer spinners. It means they haven’t had to groom as many quick bowlers. Of their best four seam bowlers since the last World Cup, Shapoor is almost finished, Hamid didn’t finish this tournament, Aftab was sent home, and only Dawlat saw this tournament through. Hence why Gulbadin bowled so much.They also would have – like most teams – expected the flatter English pitches of the last three years. But the conditions have not allowed for that. And they had to play many of their games early on, during England’s unscheduled rainy season. Their lack of seam, and their batsmen’s homespun techniques, were not up to it.ALSO READ: Afghan, nomad, superstarThey also would have expected Rashid to be better than he has been. His record against teams at this World Cup, despite having not played many matches, was very promising. But he has looked out of form, bowling more short balls in a spell than he does in an entire franchise season. Afghanistan would have expected 15 wickets at five runs an over from him at worst, they’ve instead ended with six wickets at 5.79. The other magical player is Nabi, and he’s made six single-digit scores.

There are problems to overcome, but Afghanistan also possess a cricket-mad culture, and their Under-19 team came fourth in the last tournament. There is talent, and hope, like with their batting line-up before their middle-order collapses.

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The sporting world lost its mind when Iceland did well in football, and Japan made a big impact in rugby. Sport craves these underdog, from-nowhere stories.Afghanistan in cricket is so much more than that. Since rebels started bowling overarm, nothing greater has happened to cricket than Afghanistan’s rise. Cricket devised a system that made it all but impossible for new members to get to the top level, and the most extraordinary country on earth made it anyway. A team of refugees with Shahid Afridi crushes walked across the Durand line, charged our game, and bowled us over. Fast-bowling gods, spinning legends, and more wild swings to the leg side than you’ll see in a year of street cricket, from a nation at war, from outside the Commonwealth’s cricket club.And the game we love, look what it gave this country: different heroes and something they could be truly proud of.ALSO READ: The Afghanistan storyFormer ACB chairman Atif Mashal once told ESPNcricinfo, “Cricket is not only a game in Afghanistan. It is a tool for peace-building and unity. We are a post-war country. After four decades of war, we really need something to unite our people, to use it as a peace tool.”Afghanistan give the game stories; cricket provides this nation with something to hold on to.And this was the tournament where, with an array of spin, some big hitting, and all the heart in the world, they came to win “three or four matches”, according to Gulbadin. Until now Afghanistan cricket has been full of good stories. Not this time.”We should improve our fitness, we should improve our skills, we should improve everything,” Gulbadin said. “I am not happy with this team performance. No one has given their 100% performance for the country.”He didn’t mean that they hadn’t given their all, he meant they hadn’t performed their best.”I face a lot of good days and bad days in my life, but I never look back, just forward.” Afghanistan have been through so much worse, and their cricket has given them so much.