Chennai: The Afghanistan cricket team Monday October 23, 2023 wrapped up its ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 Group match against Pakistan at MA Chidambaram Stadium with a resounding victory – and also with a political note.
Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat and scored a defendable 282 runs in 50 overs with the loss of 7 wickets.
Opener Abdullah Shafique scored half century (58 runs off 75 balls) and built the Pakistani innings with skipper Babar Azam after the loss of Imam-ul-Haq when the team’s score was 58.
Babar, who is not seen in a good form this tournament, stood firm at the other end as he saw Mohammed Rizwan and Saud Shakeel throwing away their wickets in quick succession.
Pakistan was struggling at 206/5 when Babar Azam left the crease scoring a brilliant 78 runs off 92 balls. However, Shadab Khan (40 off 38 runs) and Iftikhar Ahmed (40 off 27 balls) rose to the occasion and took Pakistani score to 282 runs – that however proved an easy target for the Afghanistan cricket team.
Afghanistan openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zardan were playing with such an ease that it looked the two will take their team to victory on their own. It was however Rahmanullah Gurbaz (65 runs off 53 balls) who first departed and then Ibrahim Zardan (87 off 113 balls), but not before taking the Afghanistan team very close to the victory.
Rahmat Shah (77 runs off 84 balls) and Hashmatullah Shahidi (48 runs off 45 balls) took charge after R Gurbaz and I Zardan were out, reaching the target in the 49 overs and defeating their neighbor by 8 wickets.
After playing a superb innings, Ibrahmi Zardan now threw a political googly in the post-match interview by dedicating his Man of the Match award to “Afghans who were forcibly sent back from Pakistan”.
"Thankful that I performed well in this event. I wanted to play with a positive intent. Many times Gurbaz and I have done a brilliant partnership together. We have played a lot of cricket together, right from the Under-16 days. I want to dedicate this man of the match award to those who are sent back to Afghanistan from Pakistan”, he said when handed over the Player of the Match trophy.
Ibrahim Zardan’s remarks however did not go down well with Afghanistan Skipper Rashid Ali who joined the discussion, and lashed out at him.
The post-match politics did not end here. After Ibrahim Zardan, it was the South Indian cricket fans in Chennai who while speaking with reporters after the match reasoning why they were cheering both the teams said they wanted to “correct the wrongs done by their counterparts in the North”.
“We are here for cricket. Not for hatred”, the Chennai cricket fans, who kept shifting their allegiance between Pakistan and Afghanistan and cheered every run scored and every wicket that fell, said, in a veiled reference to anti-Pakistan sloganeering and chants of “Jai Shree Ram” in previous matches especially at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
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