ENG vs AFG | Takeaways - Afghanistan’s lack of imagination and Joe Root’s contrasts in banality and orthodoxy

06/18/2019

An Eoin Morgan special - easily one of the best World Cup innings of all-time - not only broke many ODI records, but it also ensured that England rose to the top of the table. While Morgan’s mayhem took the cake for the day, Joe Root put up a spectacle that was brutal and simple at the same time.

Root’s contrasts in banality and orthodoxy

If Bollywood makes a movie on this England team, Joe Root would come across as more Pankaj Tripathi than Salman Khan. In the cauldron of England’s modern style of ODI cricket, Root doesn’t own it like a few of his contemporaries do but as far as the aphorism goes, he knows how to make it and at times, be the most figurative character whom the audience loves, but rarely pays to watch a solo. He is coke to your pizza, whose presence never talked about in the same vein as the chicken barbeques scattered across the bread but what’s fun without it? It is this contrast in banality and orthodoxy that Root stood out to be one of the best.

Agreed that there was a little help for bowlers at Old Trafford and the opposition was Afghanistan - a mentally depleted side trapped in the eliteness of this World Cup. Root, of course, found it easy because he has rarely been trapped in it. With Jason Roy suffering a hamstring tear and probably out of the next three weeks for good, Root’s role was more clearly defined. He had to tick along at a run a ball, or there or thereabouts, holding the innings together while ensuring others to take charge of the attack.

The Yorkshire man was right on the money and despite England getting off to a sluggish start, he didn’t move away from his set template until it was needed. That allowed Eoin Morgan a base where he could manage to do just what the doctor ordered. The English skipper’s effectiveness added to Root’s reportiere and the duo played along nicely. Towards the backend of the innings, when Morgan placed the charge on his shoulder, Root joined him and even played a lap scoop to give an indication of what he is capable of. He ended with 88 off 82 balls but the ease with which he stood tall added strength to Morgan’s method, and probably to England’s innings.

When wisdom goes out for a toss

Afghanistan have been very picky in their choice nowadays which is a clear contradiction to the way they used to operate say a couple of years ago. It has probably come thanks to the elevated full-member status, but as they say, inexperience in cricket is a bigger conundrum than ability itself. The way Gulbadin Naib used Rashid Khan today told a story.

When Mujeeb Ur Rahman bowled the first over, which has precisely become every team’s go-to option against England this World Cup, Afghanistan should have found a way to introduce Rashid within the first powerplay. After James Vince’s dismissal, England were considerably sluggish their approach and it was anybody’s guess that they were looking for a break out over to break the shackles sooner rather than later. However, for reasons only known to Naib, Rashid Khan came out to bowl the 21st over.

Well, wait there. Let’s consider what Rashid did. There was literally no rhythm to his bowling. After being hit for a couple of sixes - one through cover and one through mid-wicket - the convention would’ve been to make subtle changes to the plan but Rashid was more interested in either pitching the ball up or digging it short. The good length zone, visibly having few cracks and could’ve been useful for Rashid to take advantage of, was removed from his dictionary altogether. What that resulted in was Morgan finding his zone from the word go and played one of the best World Cup innings of all-time.

Asghar Afghan’s resilience lesson to Afghanistan’s one-dimensional approach

Asghar Afghan’s quality as a batsman has never been in doubt and it was, let's call it, surprising that he was not in the first XI for Afghanistan’s first five games. When he returned, he put on a show of batting that just went on to show that only Shpageeza isn’t the symbol of everything excellent about Afghanistan cricket. There is a clear sense of purpose underneath the 44-run innings played by him, alongside Hashmatullah Shahidi. However, one may ask, if there was no purpose of win, why the innings was so special, especially when Rahmat Shah too played an equally stoic 46 runs?

Afghan’s innings was a tribute to his long-standing resilience as a quality top-order batsman who has never been bogged down or bought to the theory of hard-hitting pinch hitters. He has always been composed on the face of storm and never ever the person to lose control over his innings. With Jofra Archer and Mark Wood spitting fire, he stood there as a rock and gave Shahidi the required support he needed to guide the team to a respectable total.

Afghanistan have already been on the line of fire for being behind the eight ball when it comes to constructing an ODI innings and Afghan came forward to showcase how it should be done. Combine that with a few careful innings up top, they at least ensured that they put up a respectable fight.