AFGHANISTAN V SOUTH AFRICA IN UAE, 2024

Cricket provides the joy for Afghanistan again

Afghanistan stunned South Africa with the ball.
Afghanistan stunned South Africa with the ball. ©Afghanistan Cricket Board

If only they could have sang and danced in the streets of Kabul on Wednesday. Alas, the Taliban have banned singing and dancing in Afghanistan, along with much else that brings joy. Cricket itself could be put on the long and lengthening list of what is illegal in future, if reports from that benighted country are to be believed.

Certainly, they were singing and dancing in the stands of Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Wednesday. And under the joyously buoyant and billowing Afghanistan flag in all its black, red, green and white-crested glory, often fringed with gold tassels. Not the black-and-white depiction of the Shahada prayer, which the Taliban have subverted into the grim harbinger they have imposed as the national flag.

They were singing and dancing long before South Africa crashed to 36/6 - their lowest score with that many wickets down in all of their 673 men's ODIs - and when they lost their seventh before they had added another run to record their lowest score in the first 10 overs. And when they were bowled out for 106, the lowest total a top-10 ranked team have been dismissed for in ODIs against Afghanistan.

They sang and danced for Fazalhaq Farooqi, who changed to bowling around the wickets after his first over and found sniping swing to take 4/35. They sang and danced for 18-year-old AM Ghazanfar, who bowled deliveries that far more experienced off-spinners could never master to claim 3/20. They sang and danced when Rashid Khan finally got a bowl in the 11th over, which was scoreless. And when his googly ended the innings by trapping Lungi Ngidi in front midway through the 34th.

The celebrations dulled while Wiaan Mulder gritted through 84 balls for his 52, an innings of significant discipline and management. It was anchored on stands of 39 off 80 with Bjorn Fortuin and 30 off 54 with Nandre Burger, who faced 17 balls for no runs. Mulder arrived in the ninth, at 29/5 after Ghazanfar had ended the eighth by making Jason Smith the 12th South African to suffer a duck on ODI debut with a delivery that zagged between pad and pad and found the stumps. Another turner in Ghazanfar's next over had Kyle Verreynne leg-before, and four balls later Andile Phehlukwayo ran himself out while the Afghans were in the throes of an lbw appeal. Most of them, anyway - Gulbadin Naib did the fielding at slip and threw down the stumps with Phehlukwayo having dawdled out of his ground irresponsibly.

Never in his previous five ODIs had Fortuin sat padded up in imminent danger of being summoned to the middle inside 10 overs of the innings. Neither had he been part of the biggest stand of the innings. Both were true on Wednesday.

For much of Afghanistan's reply, the cheers seemed caught in throats. The pitch, while sound, offered turn and movement. But it was slow and the bounce was low though consistent. That made batting a chore. So knocking off even so small a target was hard work, especially with Ngidi and Burger setting a fine example with the new ball by varying their pace and adhering to stifling lines.

Consequently, a buzzing nervousness prevailed when Rahmanullah Gurbaz slapped the third delivery of the innings into Smith's hands at deep third. And when Fortuin had a sweeping Rahmat Shah bang in front in the eighth, with only 15 runs scored. Riaz Hassan and Hashmatullah Shahidi eased the tension with a partnership of 23 off 34, and Hashmatullah continued the good work in an effort of 22 off 26 with Azmatullah Omarzai. Even then, there was a hesitance to believe.

Surely, with just 47 required off 32 overs and six wickets standing, the watching Afghans knew the game belonged to their team? Maybe, when you've been through as much as they have, you don't believe it until you see it. They had to wait another eight overs, during which Azmatullah and Gulbadin took charge of what remained of the chase with unshakeable authority in their unbroken partnership of 47 off 48.

The match was won with a hard-hit single to mid-on by Gulbadin off Phehlukwayo. It wasn't a climax worthy of the occasion, but it will do considering it meant that, this year alone, Afghanistan have beaten six fellow ICC full members in the two white-ball formats in 2024. One of them, Ireland - who were elevated to Test-playing status alongside the Afghans in June 2017 - have been dealt with four times in six games this year. But this win is more special: Afghanistan's first in six attempts against South Africa.

The Taliban don't deserve this Afghanistan team. Because of the Taliban, in the estimation of many, this team don't deserve to play international cricket. But the singers and the dancers deserve them - those in the stands at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Wednesday, and others who doubtless danced and sang, quietly, behind closed doors in Kabul. And in Herat, Mazar-i-Sharif, Kandahar, Jalalabad, Lashkargah, Kunduz, Taloqan, Ghazni ...

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