SAM MORSHEAD AT THE HAMPSHIRE BOWL: The Bangladesh allrounder has been in a purple patch so deep you can make out riffs of Smoke On The Water whenever he walks out to bat, and this was no exception
If Shakib Al Hasan was a country, you get the feeling he would already have one foot in the World Cup semi-finals.
The Bangladesh allrounder has been in a purple patch so deep you can make out riffs of Smoke On The Water whenever he walks to the wicket (no, not courtesy of the Cricketarists), and this was no exception.
After making his fifth score of 50 or more in seven innings at this tournament, Shakib then ripped his way through the Afghanistan batting line-up - mostly with deliveries that barely turned at all - and then contributed a brilliant run out to be rid of Ikram Ali Khil.
Give him all the personal awards for the competition now. It doesn’t matter if Bangladesh reach the last four, Al Hasan has been the dominant force.
Shakib Al Hasan is enjoying a terrific tournament
Mujeeb Ur Rahman has had a better week than you.
After containing England’s juggernaut in Manchester, he kept India’s top order to 1-26 from 10 overs and then added 3-39 today.
With more variations than Mozart's journal, the teenager has wizardry in his fingers - offbreak follows knuckle ball follows legspinner follows arm ball, every one blending together like a fruity beachfront cocktail.
He has firmly outshone Rashid Khan at this tournament, after a sluggish start.
It was a strange sight. With more than 20 overs of the innings remaining, Mahmudullah was limping between the wickets and unable to clear the boundary, yet there seemed to be no urgency to get the batsman into the dressing room for assessment by the team physio.
Mahmudullah hobbled his way to 27 from 38 balls, and then failed to appear for the second innings as he rested a calf injury.
Bangladesh will hope he has not done himself any major damage.
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Afghanistan have come back well from their mauling at the hands of England.
In the final 30 overs of that Old Trafford pumping, they were clattered to the boundary on a massive 35 occasions.
Since then, they have bowled 100 overs at India and Bangladesh.
The total number of times their fielders have had to fetch the ball from beyond the rope in that time? Thirty-four.
Mahmudullah picked up a calf injury
When Mohammad Shahzad returned to Kabul, having been ditched by the Afghanistan management mid-tournament over an alleged failed fitness test, he told local media that he would consider quitting cricket for good.
His heart was no longer in it, he said. He felt as though he had been betrayed.
Losing Shahzad permanently would certainly impact on Afghanistan in the short term - he has been a prominent figure in their rise up the rankings and to a seat at the top table by right - yet in his enforced absence in England, the national side have seen a glimpse of the future.
Ikram Ali Khil is everything Shahzad is not: slight, slender, a lower-order bat not blessed with natural hitting ability and, most importantly, athletic and agile behind the stumps.
Afghanistan’s compromise with the inclusion of Shahzad has always been with the gloves, the theory being that he is worth much more in his run potential alone. But given he was in such a meagre run of form - five single-figure scores in seven ODIs dating back to the beginning of March - that hypothesis might have been starting to wear thin.
Khil, however, looks sharp. The teenager is tidy with the gloves, livewire in the field and has bedded quickly into the side. The batting will come, and a new role for a keeper in the Afghan line-up will come too, but there are makings of a very impressive player indeed.
Imran Ali Khil has looked tidy behind the stumps
With the best will in the world, Dawlat Zadran is not Jonty Rhodes.
The Afghanistan allrounder’s drop of Eoin Morgan at Manchester - a half-hearted, one-handed attempt - preceded the England captain’s brutal 17-six assault.
It was hardly an audition for a spot at backward point. Yet there the seamer found himself in the final over of the Bangladesh innings. Inexplicably.
The folly of the field placement was soon made all too clear when Mohammad Saifuddin sliced a drive in Dawlat’s direction first up, the ball spilling into the offside gently. It was the sort of chance which, if missed, would have generated substantial bar takings on the village green.
You know what happened next. Captain Gulbadin Naib might do well to reconsider Dawlat in such an important role going forward.
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