CHENNAI: When one hears the name Chepauk at once cricket aficionados minds travel to the times that the historic MA Chidambaram stadium had witnessed fierce duels between the bat and the ball.
People many not remember the stats, what stays in the mind is the duels between the likes of GR Viswanath and Andy Roberts; Sunil Gavaskar and Malcom Marshal; Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne. So the 21000 strong crowd, record of sorts for a non-India match had primarily come to see the tussle between Babar Azam and Rashid Khan.
But the crowd were in for a rare treat as the Afghanistan thrashed Pakistan into submission with a creditable eight-wicket win in the ICC World Cup under lights here on Monday.
The evening belonged to Afghanistan who put up yet another thrilling display to shock Pakistan. Certainly Afghanistan were high on self belief as they knew if they got off to a good start, any target was within their reach. They also drew inspiration from the win against England earlier in the tournament.
Chasing 283 for a win, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (65) and Ibrahim Zardan (87) straight away got into the act. Their calculated assault sent the Pakistan fielders on a leather hunt. The duo played positively to the merit of the ball and added 130 for the first wicket.
Both fell while trying to bring down the asking rate.Gurbaz fell to a quick one from Shaheen Afridi, top edging to Usama at third man.
A while later Zardan too played away from the body and edged a sharper one from Hasan Ali to Rizwan behind the stumps.
After that Rahamt Shah (77 n.o.) and skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi (48 n.o) joined together and with their astute partnership worth 96 runs for the unfinished third wicket guided the Afghans to yet another famous victory.
Babar shuffled his bowlers and tried every trick in the book to break the partnerships but could not make any in-roads due to the Afghans stubborn apporoach. With political environment at the moment one never knows when Pakistan will tour India again for a bilateral series.
Babar Azam with doubt is one among the top three batters in the world across formats.
So the crowd flocked to the stadium to see the how Babar masters Rashid Khan, arguably the best leggie in the world.
They were not disappointed as Babar Azam made 74 off 92 balls and with help from opener Abdullah Shafique (58) enabled Pakistan to post a challenging total of 282 for 7 in the allotted overs.
Babar Azam used his feet well and negotiated Rashid and the other Afghan spinners with panache. His innings where he showed good discretion in shot selection and placement should be a learning experience for every budding cricketer watching the game.
Opting to bat, Pakistan got a solid start with a 56-run stand by openers Abdullah Shafique (58) and Imam-ul-Haq (17). Then skipper Babar Azam (74) came in and provided another 50-plus partnership with Shafique.
Babar Azam's 30th ODI fifty set the tone and a big-hitting cameo from Iftikhar Ahmed led Pakistan's strong batting display and helped them to post a challenging score of dry and slow surface. As many as 38 overs were bowled by the spinners, which is the third-most bowled in a World Cup match.
Things looked on the upswing for Pakistan when Abdullah Shafique swung a Naveen-ul-Haq delivery for a maximum in the fifth over. It was the first six hit by a Pakistan batter in the power play in 2023. Both openers Imam-ul-Haque and Shafique, looked at ease against the new ball and made use of the best batting conditions.
Azmatullah Omarzai delivered the much-needed breakthrough when he had Imam caught off a familiar short ball at midwicket, and that wicket helped Afghanistan gain some control back. Shafique though continued having a good World Cup and raised a fifty off 50 balls his second in the tournament to go along with a hundred.
It was Noor Ahmad who was drafted in the side for Fazalhaq Farooqi who broke the 54-run stand between Shafique and Babar.
The left-arm chinaman spinner first trapped Shafique lbw and then elicited a top-edge from Mohammad Rizwan leaving Pakistan struggling on a tough surface to score.
Another 43-run stand between Babar and Saud Shakeel brought in some relief for Pakistan but Mohammad Nabi broke that stand, getting Shakeel caught at mid-on.
Noor, the youngest player to feature in this World Cup at 18yeras returned figures of 3 for 49 in his first World Cup match and helped Afghanistan with breakthroughs on a day their lead spinner Rashid Khan went wicket less.
Brief scores: Pakistan 282/7 (Shafique 58, Babar 74, Shadab 40, Iftikhar 40, Noor 3-49) lost to Afghanistan 286 for 2 in 49 overs (R Gurbaz 65, I Zadran 87, Rahamat Shah 77 n.o., H Shahidi 48 n.o).