If the best bowler you had faced before was Boyd Rankin then how would you feel faced with Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel running in at full steam on a bouncy track in Barbados? Petrified is probably the answer. At the very least you would quickly understand how a deserter feels when faced with a firing squad.
This was Afghanistan's fate yesterday as Steyn and Morkel ripped through their top order like a pair of knives slicing through butter as the Afghan's hopes of successfully chasing down 140 to secure a place in the Super Eight stage went up in smoke. Pluck was not in short supply though, as the Afghans recovered from 14 for six and 32 for eight to reach an at least respectable 80 all out.
Given Afghanistan's rapid rise and the fact that unlike Ireland for example they had not played at this level before, they emerge with bats held high from their two defeats to India and South Africa. They certainly justified their belief that they should have the opportunity to play regular T20 and ODI against the top teams. Their fielding has been sharp, the bowlers have done well and even the batsmen performed reasonably against India despite being blown away by Steyn and Morkel yesterday.
Of course, if the ICC had done what it should have done and just had two groups of six teams at this competition, then the Afghans would have got five matches against top-class opposition; it was a long journey for two matches. It certainly would have been interesting to see how they would have fared against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. If the former's match against Australia was anything to go by, where the pace of Nannes and Tait undid Bangladesh after their bowlers had put them within range of a shock victory, then a match-up with Afghanistan could have been too close to call.
So as the Afghan's prepare for an arduous journey back to Kabul, they leave safe in the knowledge that the fact that they even reached the competition was one of the best stories in sport of recent times. Moreover, they depart having not embarrassed themselves and with the hope that this is just the end of the second chapter of what will become an ever more enthralling ride.
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