There is an orthodox proverb in cricket which says, ’Catches win Matches’ and while the current generation tries to do away with the orthodox mindset, on a lot of fronts, there are some things that cannot be parted ways with.
Afghanistan have had a dream-like World Cup in India, but a few dropped catches have turned their campaign into a nightmare as they are virtually out of the race to semi-final.
Skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi didn’t hesitate or try to hide his team’s weakness and said that they were not up to the mark in fielding in the World Cup.
“In this World Cup, I think one part that we are not good enough in, is the fielding, you know, like we dropped so many catches,” Shahidi said at the pre-match media interaction in Ahmedabad.
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While Mujeeb ur Rahman’s drop of Glenn Maxwell’s dolly at short fine leg would go down as one of the costliest in the history of ODI cricket, a flurry of dropped catches against New Zealand in Chennai cannot be erased from the memories either.
“In New Zealand game also, that dropped catches hurt us. Especially last game with Australia, the dropped the chances that we had. That was the reason, if we took that, so the result and scenario would be far different than now,” a disappointed Shahidi added.
The Afghan skipper however suggested that it has to be taken in the strides and the team shall improve on fielding.
“But still, I say that everything that is happening in cricket, you have to learn from it. And especially the catches that we missed, now we have to improve on our fielding going forward to take the Afghanistan cricket as a best fielding side.”
To add some context, in Chennai, Afghanistan had brought the Kiwis down to 110/4, bagging three wickets in a span of nine balls in the 21st and 22nd over. But they dropped five chances giving the Kiwis multiple lifelines and letting them post 288/6 at the end of innings.
Two games that could have been the greatest ODI wins in the careers of Afghan players had turned into customary defeats and falling short of a semi-final berth at the biggest stage.
While Shahidi expressed disappointment at the results, it is also worthwhile to note that it took Maxwell to play the innings of his life to beat the Afghans.
“That loss was very disappointing for us as a team. Everyone was disappointed because you know sometimes these kind of things happen and it happened with us. It was hard, like we were not expecting win (for Australia). They were seven down and Maxwell played the innings of his life, I think. So, we were not expecting that he will win the game from us after those seven wickets. But still, it’s part of the game, part of the life.”
Shahidi Rues for More ODIs
While this ODI tournament has been one of the most successful in terms of performances, and broken previous viewership records, the future of the format hangs in balance. With the number of ODIs depleting, teams like Afghanistan, Netherlands, and other associate nations might find it hard to get consistent game time and a chance to improve their skills.
Shahidi wants the ICC and cricket boards to look into this and organise more of ODI cricket.
“I think for that question, we have cricket board and management. So, we are hoping that they take a lot of series with other teams. And the Champions Trophy is also ahead. There will be cricket of 50 overs, I’m expecting that. I hope that ICC also make a good call on it because 50-over cricket is also important.”
While Afghanistan have a NRR of -0.338, New Zealand, after their win against Sri Lanka have a NRR of 0.743. They need to win by a margin of 438 runs to better the Kiwi NRR. This makes it virtually impossible for Afghanistan to qualify for the semis even if they beat South Africa in Ahmedabad.
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